


Holiday Hell

by DarkCorgi



Series: Holiday Hell [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Humor, M/M, Parody, Romance, Sexual Content, Slash, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-06-21
Updated: 2004-06-21
Packaged: 2018-09-27 21:16:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 47,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10050434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCorgi/pseuds/DarkCorgi
Summary: Albus locks Harry and Severus in a snowglobe over the Christmas Holidays in order to get them to work together.  This is a challenge issued by Ataraxis at www.livejournal.com/community/hproundrobin





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from SeparatriX, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [HP Fandom](http://fanlore.org/wiki/HP_Fandom_\(archive\)), which was closed for health and financial reasons. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [HP Fandom collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hpfandom/profile).

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 1  
By Corgi**

Albus watched the two angry men sitting in front of his desk fume as they digested the news he just gave them. He knew they weren't happy, but he had no choice. Harry needed to learn Occlumency as quickly as possible and now that Severus was no longer able to spy he had more than enough time to teach Harry. Watching the two he decided he needed to take drastic action and make them learn to work together.

 

"Now you two I expect you to work together. Harry you must learn this and Severus you're the only one who can teach him with any speed." Albus shot his sternest gaze at the two men and both leveled glares at him. 'Well Harry has learned something from Severus over the years. That glare is definitely Severus'.' "You will begin tonight at seven and meet everyday until Harry's able to block any intrusion. Do you both understand?"

 

"Yes, Professor." Harry's response was barely audible, though in the quiet room it was heard quite clearly. Albus could see how unhappy the boy was with the situation and he didn't blame the young man. After all he had promised to continue the young wizard's training personally, but he didn't have the time to do so.

 

"Yes, Headmaster," came Severus' clipped response and Albus could tell the lack of inflection that he'll never hear the end of this. 

 

"Alright then, Harry you'll report to Professor Snape's office tonight at seven and please don't be late. You may go, Harry." Albus watched the young man leave with a completely blank look on his face and coldness in his eyes. Albus hoped he didn't make another mistake dealing with the young man.

 

"Headmaster if you haven't further need of me I do have work to do." Severus turned to go but was stopped by Albus before he could take a step.

 

"A word before you go, Severus. The two of you must learn to work together Severus; you know that as well as I do. Take this opportunity to get to know him. The two of you have a lot more in common than you think."

 

"Please Albus, we will never get along. He's too much like his father for comfort and I highly doubt that we have anything in common." 

 

"I've seen how you look at Harry. I know you didn't mean any of what you said."

 

"I haven't a clue as to what you're talking about, Albus. I only watch the boy because if someone doesn't he'd be dead. The foolish boy sticks his nose into situations he shouldn't be involved in."

 

"You have truly mastered the art of lying to yourself, Severus. I've seen how you look at the young man when you think no ones watching you. For once, my boy, do something for you instead of wallowing in guilt."

 

"What I feel or don't feel doesn't matter. He's my student and my actions have made sure he'd never return my feelings, even if he did find out." Severus then walked out of the office before Albus could continue.

 

When the door to his office slammed shut behind the black-robed figure he shook his head in pity. He loved that young man like a son but there are times he longs to smack some sense into his head. 'I can tell it's going to be a long and difficult year and it's only September,' Albus thought to himself as he turned his attention to the pile of paperwork in front of him. 

 

The weeks went by just like Albus thought they would. Several times a week he had Severus in his office practically screaming about Harry. Albus had all of the Potions Master's complaints memorized by the end of September. Two days before the students left for their Christmas Holiday was the biggest blow up between the two. Another rough Occlumency lesson had the two at each other's throats and Severus stormed into Albus' office dragging Harry by the collar.

 

Two hours of Severus and Harry ranting nearly made the old man tear his beard out. When the two finally quieted down after demanding the lessons stop Albus calmly informed them that they didn't have a choice; the lessons had to continue. Harry visibly deflated at the statement and left without a word, Severus on the other hand was a completely different story.

 

"Albus, I can not continue this," the younger man hissed from between clenched teeth. "They boy isn't learning a thing. He isn't even trying!" 

 

"Then try another way of teaching him," was the Headmaster's quiet reply. "You do remember our conversation from September, do you not?"

 

"Yes I do, Albus and I'm sure you remember my response. Good day!" Severus stormed out of the office after his snarled reply once again slamming the door as he left.

 

Albus shook his head sadly as he looked at the closed door. Fawkes hopped off his perch and stood quietly next to the elderly wizard. Unconsciously the old wizard began to stroke the bird's feathers as he was lost in his thoughts. 

 

"Fawkes, I may have to take some drastic measures with those two." He told the gold and scarlet bird. The bird nodded his head in response. "They need to learn to work together. They are the wizarding world's only hope for stopping Tom's insane plans."

 

Albus chuckled when he saw the bird's confused expression. "Yes Fawkes, I do remember Sybil's prediction but Harry needs support and Severus is the only person who is trustworthy and capable of understanding the lad. Without proper support Harry will not be able to stop Tom." Albus thought for a couple of moments. "We need to isolate the two of them so they can't drag someone else in to help and the Christmas Holidays are the perfect time to do so." 

 

Blue eyes searched the room as if they held the answer to isolating his two problem children. His eyes returned to his desk and lit upon a snow globe with a perfect replica of the castle with in. The globe was a gift from his brother Aberforth. Unlike the muggle version of this object there is no water inside the globe. The snow gently falling is a spell and as the headmaster watched the snow falling inside the globe and idea clicked in his head. He reached out and picked the globe up staring intently at it.

 

"Fawkes, I do believe I've found were Severus and young Harry are going to spend their Christmas Holiday." He picked up his wand and rapidly began casting spells on the globe. When he was done he looked once again at his familiar. "Fawkes, will you place this in Severus' office for me? If all goes to plan they'll be inside it tomorrow."

The phoenix grabbed the globe in his talons and disappeared in a ball of flames.


	2. Chapter 2

  
Author's notes: Albus locks Severus and Harry in a snowglobe during Christmas Holidays.   


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 2  
By Corgi**

Harry trudged down to Snape's office in the dungeons. He really didn't want to be there tonight. Hermione, Ron and Ginny would be going home for the holidays and he just wanted to stay in the common room and spend time with them. All this extra work with Snape had kept him from his friends and he found that they were drifting apart. Ron and Hermione were going out and Ginny was seeing Dean. If this kept up he'd be alone and that was something that he didn't want to be.

 

Being the so called Boy-Who-Lived isn't what it's cracked up to be. Everyone wanted the fame not the person attached to it and it depressed Harry to no end. If that wasn't enough, Harry discovered over the summer that he really didn't fancy girls at all. Now gents on the other hand were a completely different story. The odd part was he didn't find people like Malfoy or Bill Weasley attractive, though both were handsome individuals. What frightened him was the person who had a starring role in his dreams recently. Why was he fantasizing about the Potions Master? That particular bit puzzled him ever since the first dream occurred during the summer. He didn't know why the man intruded on his subconscious every night, but now he was thoroughly glad he didn't do well enough on his OWL to get into the NEWT level potions class. He didn't think he'd be able to concentrate on potions because of studying the teacher.

 

Much too soon for his liking he reached the door to Professor Snape's office. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door and entering when he heard the curt 'enter'. Snape was sitting behind his desk with his habitual sneer in place. Oh, Harry was determined not to let Snape know why he was having difficultly blocking the man from his thoughts. He was terrified of what the man might do with that bit of information.

 

"Let's get on with this infernal waste of time, Potter. Clear your mind! Legilimens!"

 

He tried as hard as he could he couldn't force the man from his mind. As images ran through his mind he started to panic. The dream he had about Snape last night was beginning to show and he summoned up an image of the basilisk he fought in his second year and successfully inserted it for Snape's viewing. 

"Expelliarmus!" Harry collapsed on the floor panting after he disarmed Snape. He struggled to his feet shaking his head to clear it. He looked up to find Snape once again sneering at him.

 

"My, my, what would all your fans say when they find out you prefer the company of men, Potter?" Harry just wanted to slap that smirk on his face right off. 

 

"I really couldn't care less, Professor. If they don't like it then let them kill Voldemort." Harry was proud of the lack of inflection he managed. He was holding on to his temper tooth and claw, but it won't take much for it to snap.

 

"Don't say the Dark Lord's Name!" Snape snarled. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

 

"So, you don't want me to call him Tom then?" Harry couldn't help himself. Something about Snape made him lose his self control.

 

"Enough of your foolishness, Potter! You know exactly what I mean. Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek. Now clear your mind! Legilimens! "

 

Harry once again strove to push his Professor from his mind and noticed this time that the man was searching for a particular set of memories. He saw one of his night time fantasies surfacing at the man's direction and he countered with a shielding charm and started seeing some of Snape's memories. One was of Snape and a brown haired man kissing, the second the same brown haired man falling victim to the killing curse and the last was Snape and the elder Malfoy. Snape didn't look like he was enjoying himself in that memory. Suddenly he was thrown out of the memory. He would have commented but unlike Snape, he didn't want to re-open old wounds.

 

Harry noticed Snape brace himself for some response from Harry but all he did was look at the man. He could see the confused look the man had before he replaced his mask. Harry went back to his starting position and waited once again for Snape to break into his mind, which the man promptly did. Harry struggled to keep the man out but once again failed to and collapsed on the floor when the memories of Sirius falling through the veil flashed across his mind's eye. Snape broke the spell and smirked.

 

"So that's what happened to your mutt. At least he had the decency not to leave a body to bury." 

 

The glee in the man's eyes was too much for the young Gryffindor. Harry reached around behind him and grabbed on of the specimen jars on the shelf and threw it at Snape, who easily dodged the missile. Not content with throwing one jar, Harry reached back and threw another and another. Snape dodged each thrown jar advancing each time Harry threw something. Harry reached back for another item and picked up a snow globe and started to lob it at Snape. Snape reached out to take the object from Harry and when his hand joined Harry's on the globe a bright light filled the room. 

 

When the light dimmed both Harry and Snape were gone and the globe started to fall to the dungeon floor. Before the globe could hit the flag stones Fawkes appeared and grasped the knick knack in is talons and disappeared in a ball of fire. Fawkes reappeared in the Headmaster's office and placed the snow globe on the desk before returning to his perch.

 

Harry woke up sprawled over Snape's chest. He had to suppress the thrill it gave him before the older man woke up and hexed him. Harry levered himself up and looked around. They were in the entrance hall and he didn't hear a sound. Where was everyone? It was eerily silent in the school. Harry walked towards the Great Hall and was surprised when the door didn't open. He pushed at the doors and they didn't budge. Curious he walked over to Professor McGonagall's office and tried the door. It didn't open either.

 

Harry heard a groan coming from the Entrance Hall and returned to see Snape getting to his feet. Snape looked around the hall and looked puzzled for a moment as he noticed the lack of noise that normally occurs in the castle. Harry shuffled further into the hall his movements capturing Snape's attention in the maddeningly quiet building. The older wizard glared at him before closing the distance between them and grabbing Harry by the collar.

 

"What did you do?" Snape hissed at Harry while shaking him in emphasis. 

 

"I didn't do anything, Professor!" Harry yelled back after managing to break Snape's grip on his collar.

 

"Don't tell me you didn't do anything! Where are we? This isn't Hogwarts, boy." Snape's deadly quiet voice echoed in the empty foyer.

 

"I don't know where we are and I know this isn't Hogwarts. The Great Hall's doors are locked and so is Professor McGonagall's office."

 

Snape gave him a look of pure loathing and walked up to the Hall's doors. They didn't open for him either. Snape pushed on them then whipped out his wand and thundered out several unlocking charms, none of which had any effect. He then strode to McGonagall's office door and tried the password. That didn't work either. Snape strode down the hallway and tried every door he encountered and none of them opened. He made his way back to the entrance hall and looked at Harry with utter disgust. 

 

"Get your worthless carcass out of my sight, Potter! If I see again today you'll wish you've never been born." Snape then turned on his heal and made his way down the stairs leading to the dungeon.

 

Harry watched him leave and turned towards the front doors of the school. They opened readily enough for him. He made toward Hagrid's hut at the edge of the forest. He didn't know why Snape's parting threats hurt so much. He knew the man hated him completely. But hurt they did. Maybe it was the worthless comment. Snape never went that low when insulting Harry. Harry found himself staring blankly at the door to Hagrid's home. He shook himself out of the blank fog and tried the door; it didn't open just like the ones in the school. He tried a couple of unlocking charms and those failed miserably as well. 

Harry decided to trudge down to the main gates of the school for a lack of anything better to do. He walked down the drive totally lost in his thoughts until he bumped into something. He looked up and nearly fainted at the sight before him. He could only stare in shock. Snape's not going to believe this.


	3. Chapter 3

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snow globe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 3  
By Corgi**

Severus stormed down the stairs into the dungeons heading straight for his office. Once at the door he barked out his pass word and nothing happened. He cast several spells at the lumber blocking his entrance to no avail. Frustrated he hexed the door hoping to blow it apart. The spell fizzled. Snarling he moved towards his class room and found that door locked. Ready to kill the next living thing he saw he stomped towards the hidden entranceway to his quarters. The password didn't work, nor did spells.

 

Cursing under his breath he tried the Slytherin dorms then every door on this level of the school. Failing to find a door that would open in his domain he went back upstairs trying every door he came across. During that time he didn't cross paths with Potter and for that he was grateful! Door after door he tried find only the kitchen and one other room unlocked. He entered the room in the middle of the southern corridor on the 7th floor of the castle. He looked around the small suite and saw a loveseat, a small dining table, a bathroom and a bedroom with no bed. 

 

Severus resumed cursing under his breath and went down the stairs, which happily were staying still, and tried to get into the Headmaster's tower. No such luck. The gargoyle didn't move or do any of the annoying things it does to drive Severus nuts. Hoping against hope he made his way down to the kitchens. He arrived at the fruit bowl painting and tickled the pear. The pear transformed into the door and opened readily as he turned the handle. His luck plummeted once he entered the room for standing by the stove was the bane of his existence, Harry Potter.

 

Severus just stood in the door way watching as the boy moved to the counter next to the stove and began chopping various vegetables. Snarling to himself, he wondered why the boy never did work like that in his potions class. He continued watching as Potter placed the vegetables into the pot he placed on the stove earlier. Potter never noticed Severus' presence in the room as he cleaned up after himself. 

 

Severus couldn't help the small thoughts running through his head. He didn't know how he could feel such conflicted emotions regarding the green-eyed wizard. Half the time he wanted to strangle, hex or kick the annoying brat and at other half he just wanted to wrap his arms around the younger wizard and kiss him until the end of time. His actions in the past had ensured that there would never be any occurrence of the second set of feels he had for the brat. Who would have know that the infuriating wizard would find the cracks in Severus' barriers and set up housekeeping in his long forgotten heart? Severus fell back on his usual cold persona and lashed out. 

 

"Potter, what do you think you're doing?" He snarled expecting the boy to jump and was surprised when the boy didn't.

 

"Cooking." The response was so quiet Severus barely heard it. "If you haven't noticed there aren't any house elves here."

 

"You're abilities to state the obvious never cease to astound me, Potter."

 

"Keep talking like that and we'll never get out of here." Potter stirred the contents of the pot.

 

"What is that supposed to mean, Potter?" Severus growled as he watched the brat cook. When he didn't get an immediate response he started to lose his temper. "WELL? Answer me, boy!"

 

"Don't snap at me! Which part of 'we'll never get out of here' didn't you understand, Professor?" Green eyes flashed in anger as he turned to glare at his teacher. 

 

"Don't snap at me, Potter! You were the one who got us into this mess!" Severus snarled as his anger grew.

 

"You were partly to blame, Professor and you aren't helping matters any."

 

"I did nothing, boy, but try and teach you something you were too lofty to learn!"

 

"You haven't done anything more than fling a spell at me and expect me to fumble through. You've always expected me to know about things the other wizard born and raised kids learn the moment they can string two words together." 

 

Potter turned to inspect the contents of the pot again. He then mixed in what appeared to the Potions Master to be cornstarch and water into the pot. 'He must be making a stew,' Severus thought to himself as he watched the brat the gather up eating utensils and bowls. Potter stayed silent as he set the table and placed a basket of rolls on the table. Severus was surprised to see two places set. Potter set the bowl of stew down and retrieved a pitcher of pumpkin juice from the charmed refrigerator. Setting the pitcher down on the table, he looked up.

 

"Are you going to eat, Professor?" Those green eyes looking at him made Severus retreat further behind his mask.

 

"Yes, I believe I shall." Severus sat and helped himself to the stew. "Thank you, Potter." 

 

"You're welcome."

 

They ate in a strained silence that was driving Severus insane. He always thought he couldn't stand the noise of hundreds of kids eating or the idle chatter of his colleagues during the summer, but absolute silence isn't something he was used to. Even in the dungeons there was a constant stream of sound. The sounds of water dripping, the castle settling on its foundations and the slight whistle of the drafts that plague the old building were constant factors in his life. Finally done he waited for Potter to finish so he could find out what the brat meant earlier.

 

"Now that you're done stuffing your face, Potter, would you care to explain your cryptic remark earlier?"

 

"It's easy enough to understand, Professor. I know where we are, why we're here, and how to get out. At this point in time getting out isn't a possibility."

 

"Why is getting out going to be so difficult, Potter? You're hardly the most observant person in existence."

 

"I knew you wouldn't listen. Try walking to the front gates, Professor and you'll have everything explained to you when you get there." Potter stormed out of the room before Severus could interrogate him further.

 

Muttering under his breath, Severus cleaned up the kitchen with several spells and stalked to the front doors of the school. Once outside he took a moment to wonder were Potter was hiding. The path leading to the front gates was clear of the snow falling all around Severus and in the distance he could see the winged boars that guard the gates to the school. He quickly made his way to them only to stop in horror. Just before the boars there was a thick clear substance impeding his passage. He looked up and what he saw made his eyes widen even more.

 

Albus was sitting at his desk writing, a huge Albus. The twinkling blue eyes Severus longed to rip out looked in his direction and the face they were attached to smiled. Albus waggled his fingers at Severus mouthing hello then reached over to the bowl of lemon drops next to the globe. He popped the candy into his mouth, gave Severus another smile and returned to his paper work.

 

"Bloody Hell!!!"


	4. Chapter 4

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 4  
By Corgi**

Harry was up on the third floor near the statue of the one-eyed humped back witch when he heard Snape storm through the front doors. Harry wondered who was watching the globe now. When he was outside earlier Fawkes was watching the globe. It was quite startling to see the phoenix's eye staring at him like he was a worm. What was more frightening was the fact that he was the size of a worm. That's when it hit Harry. They were in a snow globe sitting on the Headmaster's desk. Harry couldn't wait to hear Snape's reaction when he finds out. Harry had no intention of getting near the man when he gets back. It definitely would be hazardous to his health.

 

Fifteen minutes after he heard Snape leave another slam of the doors heralded his return. Harry listened carefully and heard the man swearing loud enough to wake the dead. Harry wondered if the Headmaster and Fawkes could hear the horrid things the professor was screaming. Harry snickered to himself and slid to the floor. He had hoped that the secret passage behind the witch was usable in this globe unfortunately it wasn't. He didn't know if Snape found any rooms that open. Resigned Harry got up and started to head down to the kitchen. He didn't want to run into Snape again; he used up all the calm patience he had during dinner. If the man started in on him again he may explode.

 

Harry arrived at the kitchen in record time. He went inside and rummaged in the kitchen for a few moments. When he withdrew he had a couple of tomatoes and a few leaves of lettuce. He placed two of the lettuce leaves on the ground and tried to transfigure them into mattresses. Calmly reciting the necessary incantation in his head a few times to make sure it was right before he attempted to transfigure the lettuce into a mattress. When he was sure he chanted the spell out loud and instead of getting a cushion to sleep on all he got was smoke. The lettuce leaves still sat on the floor and mocked him. Wondering if he did something wrong he tried to turn them into parchment. This time it worked. When he tried to turn the parchment into mattresses the result was once again smoke. Frustrated Harry returned the remaining lettuce and the tomatoes to the refrigerator. He hoped that there were two rooms open for them to sleep in or they'd freeze. 

 

Harry wished Dumbledore hadn't made the inside of the globe as cold as the actually hallways of the school. If there weren't any beds working together wasn't going to be their main problem. Freezing would be.

 

"Potter! Where are you?" Harry heard Snape's amplified voice thunder through the halls.

 

" _Sonorus!_ I'm in the kitchen, Professor!" Harry quickly countered the amplifying charm and sat down to wait for the easily aggravated man. 

 

Snape stormed into the kitchen in a whirl of black robes still cursing under his breath. Instead of sitting down the older wizard paced the length of the kitchen several times before stopping. The scowl on his face was deeper than Harry has ever seen and the barely suppressed rage was making the dark eyes glitter. Harry was hard pressed to keep his body's reactions from being visible. How he loved seeing Snape with such visible emotion, even the negative especially since Snape's anger wasn’t directed at him. 

 

"The Headmaster seemed fit to only provide us with one suite. There's a loveseat, a table and an empty bedroom. I suggest we transfigure something to sleep on for the duration." Snape glared when he saw Harry shaking his head.

 

"We can't transfigure anything into bedding, Professor. I've already tried. I can transfigure items into anything but bedding. The Headmaster must have decided to keep us from being apart."

 

"Follow me, Potter." Snape ground out before continuing to mutter under his breath.

 

Wordlessly Harry followed the man up the stairs. He couldn't help watching the other man's movements as they climbed the stairs. He still didn't know why the dark wizard kept appearing in his dreams and he didn't relish sharing a set of rooms with the man. Merlin only knew what the irritable man would do to him if he found out. 

 

They reached the room Snape found earlier and Harry looked around in wonder. Snape looked quite unhappy with the living arrangements and Harry really couldn't blame him. Harry explored the sitting and bathrooms before entering the bedroom. Snape was looking out the bedroom window when Harry entered eyes darting all over the room. A loud thump made both jump in surprise. In the center of the far wall a bed materialized. It was draped in silver and gold and Harry looked at the opposite wall hoping that another bed materialized. Nope, no such luck for Harry. 'I'm going to rip the headmaster's beard out the minute I can corner him without Fawkes', Harry snarled in his head.

 

Harry looked at his professor and noticed the express on his face. 'There's going to be a race to see which of us gets his hands on the headmaster first', Harry thought to himself. Harry decided that he should try and sleep on the loveseat. It wouldn't do him any good to get a hard on in the presence of Snape. 

 

"I'll sleep on the loveseat, Professor." Harry noticed the brief flash of relief in the other man's eyes just before it was quickly hidden beneath the habitual mask the older wizard wore. Harry couldn't help but wonder why his crotchety professor was so relieved. He stored the thought away to look at another time.

 

Snape walked over to the bed and removed a pillow and one of the blankets folded at the foot of the bed and tossed them over to Harry as he sat down on the bed. 

 

"The Headmaster didn't bother with potion supplies or equipment, didn't he?" Harry asked the professor as he realized the man must have a headache from the slightly pained expression on the man's face.

 

"No, he didn't. I do believe he thought it would be a good idea not to do so. Especially if he wanted to make sure I couldn't avoid you."

 

"He should have put us in a smaller building then." Harry replied with a small smirk. "Too bad there isn't any of your equipment here. Then we could lure him in and dispose of him." Harry was rewarded by a slight snicker from his potions professor for his little sally against the headmaster.

 

"Since we're stuck with each other until the Headmaster decides to free us, I suggest we continue with the Occlumency lessons and perhaps some Defence lessons also."

 

"Uhmm… Could we start with the basics for Occlumency?"

 

"What do you mean, Potter?" Snape was starting to look annoyed.

 

"You keep telling me to clear my mind and I haven't a clue as to how." Harry gulped nervously as the volatile man stared at him with narrowed eyes.

 

"You've never learned any meditation techniques?"

 

"No, Professor. I was raised by Muggles with a severe dislike for magic and all it entails. I didn't know I was a wizard until Hagrid came to take me to Diagon Alley."

 

"I fervently wish that meddlesome old man would give me all the facts for once!" Snape snarled out loud, mostly to himself, but Harry couldn't help agreeing with the frustrated man.

 

"I couldn't agree more, Professor. Good night, sir."

 

"Good night, Potter."

 

Snape put out the torches in the bedroom as Harry turned and headed to the loveseat. He put his pillow down onto the small couch and just as he was beginning to lie down, he heard a thump from the other room followed by loud swearing.

 

"Potter, get in here!" The Potions Master shouted as he waved his wand, relighting the torches.

 

"What happened?" Harry asked, as he entered the room. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Snape on the floor where the bed stood moments ago.

 

"It seems that part of the Headmaster's scheme is to have us share the bed."

 

"The man's utterly insane." Harry was trying desperately to hide his panic. He didn't know how his body would react if he had a dream with their star in the same bed.

 

"I couldn't agree more. I may follow your suggestion when we get out of here." The man sighed in resignation and moved from the spot he fell in. 

 

As soon as Snape moved out of the way the bed popped back into existence. Snape glared at the offending piece of furniture and motioned for Harry to get into the bed. After Harry settled in on one edge of the bed Snape eased in on the other. Both made sure they didn't touch once in the bed. Harry wished he had a vial of Dreamless Sleep before his tired body shut down for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 5  
By Corgi**

Severus hovered on the edge of sleep and waking, he snuggled down in the warm bed relishing the wonderful dream he still was in the throes of. He wrapped his arms tighter around the warm body sharing his bed and pressing his erection against his companion as he tried to fall further into his dream. 'Warm body?' he thought to himself. 'I don't remember bringing some….' His eyes popped open all traces of sleep gone in sudden realization. In horror he looked at sleeping form in his arms. It was Harry Potter and Severus immediately started to panic. He didn't want the boy to know he had feelings for him. In his panic over the situation he thrust the younger wizard out off his arms and right off the bed.

 

"There are better ways of waking me up, Professor, than pushing me out of bed." Harry's disgruntled reply rang in the room. "I was having such a nice dream for a change." Harry glared over his shoulder and he hauled himself onto his feet. "I'm going to take a shower. Maybe I'll leave you some hot water."

 

Severus sneered at the younger man but it was completely lost on the boy entering the bathroom, because at that exact moment the bed once again disappeared with Severus in it. Harry's snicker echoing in the bathroom didn't improve Severus' mood any. A small smirk graced his features as he devised all sorts of torments for the brat, especially during the Defence tutoring. 

 

Harry left the bathroom rather quickly despite his threat and yelled that he was going to start breakfast. Severus quickly entered the shower after the brat left and tried to shake the rest of the dream out of his mind. He had no such luck. Not only did the dream stay firmly planted in his mind, but it became clearer. What stood out most in the man's slowly panicking subconscious were the startling green eyes of his dreams focus. Severus argued with his subconscious for several long moments and was losing when it reminded him of how comfortable he was with Harry in his arms. Then another portion of his anatomy butted in and told him how much it approved of Harry in bed with him. With a growl Severus turned the hot water off and allowed the cold to drench him. There was no way in hell he was going to give in. No way at all. He let the cold water whither his erection as he quickly washed. He got dressed and made his way quietly to the kitchen.

 

Severus stood in the door way and watched Harry as he cooked. The young wizard worked with such confidence and surety in the kitchen. Severus shook his head and smashed the thought down. No, he would not give into his feelings. He wasn't going to go pining after someone who would not, could not return his feelings. He spent too many years building his walls and there was no way he was going to allow them to come down.

 

"Breakfast is ready, Professor," Harry's soft voice jerked him from his thoughts. The boy gave him an odd look that he couldn't decipher.

 

Severus sat down with a muttered 'thank you' and began eating the eggs and bacon the younger man made. He watched the messy-haired wizard as he ate slowly, as if he was savoring every bit. That made Severus wonder a bit about the boy, considering teenaged boys normally inhale their food without tasting it. Severus shook off the speculation and finished his meal. When Harry finished his breakfast he spelled the dishes clean and looked up at Severus waiting for instructions.

 

"Since you requested that I begin at the most basic steps of Occlumency, we will begin today with some meditation exercises. Hopefully once you've learned them you will be able to clear your mind of emotions and make some progress at defending yourself."

 

"Is meditation something I would have learned if my parents survived?" Harry asked quietly.

 

"If your parents didn't teach you, then you're tutor or school teacher would have done so."

 

Severus heard Harry sigh as the boy followed him back up to their room. A glance over his shoulder showed Harry sporting a sad and longing expression. 'Why would the brat have a look like that? Don't those relatives of his spoil him rotten?' Severus thought to himself. He didn't have time to dwell on those thoughts since they reached their quarters.

 

For the next couple of hours Severus ran Harry through several different meditation techniques. Severus grudgingly admitted that Harry picked them up rather quickly. Their Occlumency lessons for the first time started to show positive results and noticed the bright smile that lit Harry's eyes. It made him weak in the knees seeing that smile, but what he didn't know was Harry's smile was in response to the small one he gave the younger wizard without realizing it.

 

"I do wish the Headmaster had left the library open in this blasted thing. There are a few books that could help you with the Occlumency in the Restricted Section." Severus said after he regained his wits.

 

"Well that explains why Hermione couldn't find any books on the subject for me last year. I think she hit every wizarding bookstore she could find over the summer. We never thought to sneak into the Restricted Section for them."

 

"You told Ms. Granger about your Occlumency lessons?" Severus was slightly annoyed at the fact.

 

"Both Ron and Hermione knew about the lessons last year. I didn't inform them this year. They're off in their own little world most of the time anyway." 

 

"I suggest we break for lunch. Whenever the Headmaster decides to let us out of here I'll retrieve those books for you to read."

 

"Okay, thanks Professor." 

 

Lunch went by in an oddly companionable silence. Severus didn't know what to make of the past day or so. With out the constant pressure of Albus' nagging they seemed to be getting along better. Now only if his subconscious would leave him be at night. After lunch Severus started working on Defence with Harry. Severus decided to teach the younger wizard how to defend against some of the darker curses in use. He began lecturing the young man as they returned to their rooms about the various dark curses. What shocked Severus was the knowledge the brat already had. The first few curses his discussed Harry didn't know about, but as Severus worked his way down the list Harry was able to tell him what the curse did, the incantation and the counter curse. 

 

"Now where did you learn all that, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked in a stern tone, usually reserved for his Slytherins who've stepped out of line.

 

"Draco." 

Severus was stunned at the one word answer. For the past 5 years they've been at each other's throats and now here was Harry calling his godson by his first name. Thankful for the hard won ability to keep his mask in place despite shocks such as this, Severus collected himself and began his interrogation. He had to know how this little surprise came about. 

 

"Since when have you and Mr. Malfoy been on first name basis?"

 

"Over the summer, we managed to bury the hatchet."

 

"When did you have contact with him over the summer?"

 

"I was told to get my school supplies as early as possible and I managed to get my uncle to drop me off at the Leaky Cauldron and then return for me. After I did my shopping I waited outside the Cauldron waiting for my uncle to return. He was supposed to be back in an hour, but I waited over two hours for him to come back. I decided to summon the Knight Bus to take me back to my relatives, when my uncle finally showed up. He pitched a fit when he saw my wand out." Severus could see Harry shuddering at the memory and saw a hint of terror in his eyes. "He dragged me into an alley across the street from the Leaky Cauldron and started to pound the living daylights out of me for having my wand out. Mrs. Malfoy and Draco were walking by at the time and she stunned my uncle and dragged me off. I spent the rest of the summer with her and Draco in France. They hid me from everyone and managed to get a house elf to retrieve my belongings from the Dursley's."

 

To say Severus was shocked would be an understatement. He knew Narcissa didn't support the Dark Lord and didn't want Draco involved, but to hide the boy that lived in her husband's summer home was quite the surprise. 

 

"You left in the company of Lucius Malfoy's wife and son? What kind of fool are you?"

 

"I'm not a fool, Professor. I'm not you or Dumbledore, but I've learned to read people somewhat. Draco and Mrs. Malfoy maybe fine actors, but their disgust and outrage and my uncle's behavior and the simple fact that Draco's been a victim too made it easier to take a chance with them than be killed by a Muggle."

 

"I can safely say I'm surprised, Mr. Potter, that no one noticed that you were no longer at your residence."

 

"I still owled the order on a regular basis, like they instructed, so they never knew I wasn't in Surrey." 

 

"I take Draco started teaching you out of boredom?"

 

"Yeah, and I filled him in on some of the hexes and shields he didn't know. When it was time to head back to Hogwarts, Mrs. Malfoy charmed me to look like one of the Malfoy's relatives. Once on the train Draco and I separated and I dispelled the charms. If you haven't noticed we haven't been verbally baiting each other all year."

 

Severus was quite pleased with the whole situation. He was desperately trying to keep his godson from joining the Dark Lord and was pleased to see that Narcissa had more influence on the boy that he thought. Revising his plans he began tutoring Harry in dueling along with the Defence studies. All in all it was a satisfying set of lessons and Severus let Harry go to spend some time on his own. Severus made his way to the Astronomy tower and gazed over the globes landscape using the time to clear his own mind before heading downstairs to the kitchen.

 

When he reached the kitchen he found that is was empty. Since Harry wasn't there he decided to start their dinner, after all he'd have to do his fair share. By the time Harry made it to the kitchens, Severus had dinner ready and on the table. Harry gave him a small smile when he saw that Severus had made dinner that night. Severus on the other hand tried desperately not to drown in those green eyes. 

 

"Thanks, Professor," Harry smiled after taking his first mouthful of the curry Severus made.

 

"What's wrong, Potter? Surprised I can cook?" Severus sneered, misinterpreting the younger wizards smile.

 

"No! Why should I be?" Harry's angry response rang out in the kitchen and the young man's face began to redden. "I've never had curry before and I didn't know if I would like it!"

 

"How can you live in Britain and never have curry at least once in your life?" Disbelief colored Severus' voice.

 

"My family always left me with Mrs. Figg when they went out. All I learned to cook was traditional British food. Nothing foreign was good enough for my uncle," was Harry's heated reply.

 

"If you could cook why can't you brew a decent potion?" Severus was surprised at this response and retreated behind his walls there was no need for the boy to know how this little revelation of his bothered him.

 

"Same reason I don't cook well at my relatives. There's no motivation to do well at it." Harry's voice became a whisper and he tensed waiting for the explosion to come.

 

Severus didn't make any reply and finished his meal in silence. Harry offered to clean up and Severus accepted. He decided to walk the hallways of the building. He wondered how much he's gotten wrong about the brat. Not that it would make and difference in how he treated the boy. No, he'll keep on hiding his feelings because he knew that it would never be returned. He went back to the quarters he shared with Harry and noticed the boy was there already changed and ready for bed. The brat's discarded clothes looked wet and Severus wondered what he was doing. Severus retreated to the bathroom with the nightclothes the Headmaster provided. Severus changed and re-entered the bedroom allowing the bed to reappear. Both he and Harry gingerly got into the bed and Severus hoped that his body wouldn't betray him again tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 6  
By Corgi**

Harry woke up from his second night free of nightmares. He had the most wonderful dream and was disappointed that it had ended. He still had his eyes closed as he basked in the memory of his dream. It had felt so real. He could still feel the warm arms wrapped around him and the warm breath stirring his hair. Harry opened his eyes to find that the arms around him were real as was the warm breath. He started to panic, but suddenly remembered where he was and who he was with. His half-hard cock went fully erect at the realization and he tried to stay relaxed as the man behind him pulled him closer. Harry could feel his Professor's erection pressed against his bum. The feeling made Harry's cock throb and when one of Snape's hands slipped under his pajama top he nearly came. Snape's larger hand rubbed circles over his stomach and steadily worked its way higher. When Snape's thumb began to lightly circle one of his nipples he came, biting his lip to keep silent. Harry came so hard that he nearly blacked out and had a hard time trying not to roll over and snog the man behind him senseless.

 

While recovering his wits he felt Snape stir then suddenly start swearing under his breath. Harry heard 'not again' before the arms withdrew. Snape moved to his side of the bed and Harry missed the warmth at his back immediately. He pretended to wake when Snape shook his shoulder. Harry hoped that he gave a good impression of just waking up he could tell at a glance that the older wizard was upset at his actions.

 

"Good morning, Professor. Would you like to use the shower first?" Harry rolled out of bed making sure that the wet stain on his pants didn't show.

 

"Good morning, Potter, and thanks." Without another word Snape headed to the bathroom and Harry jumped off the bed before it could disappear.

 

Harry grabbed his wand and used a quick cleansing charm to remove the evidence from his pajama bottoms. As quiet as he could he moved to the bathroom door. Snape didn't close the door all the way and Harry could just about hear what he was mutter while showering.

 

"Damn, Albus, for putting me through this." Snape's growl was barely audible over the water. "Albus you knew I had feelings for the brat and you just had to set us up! Damn you."

 

Harry slipped away from the door and went into the sitting room. He tripped over a trunk in the middle of the room, jarring him from his thoughts. Yes! The Headmaster saw his plea! Harry opened the trunk and saw all his school books and a ton of alternate reading material for him as well as Professor Snape. As he crowed his delight while sorting the contents into two piles, Snape came out of the bedroom ready for the day.

 

"Why are you making such a racket, Potter?" Harry's only response was to hold up a current copy of one of the weekly potions journals. "Where did you find those? They weren't here last night." Snape reached out and took the journal Harry was holding.

 

"I tapped down some snow with a message to the Headmaster, reminding him I still had to do and that it wouldn't be a good idea to let you get behind on whatever research you were doing. He obviously saw it, or Fawkes did, and sent everything here in this trunk."

 

"Well, thank you, Potter. I'll start breakfast while you're showering. We'll start with Occlumency after we eat."

 

"Alright, Professor, I'll see you in a few minutes." With that Harry bounced back to his feet and headed for the shower. 

 

Harry spent the time he was showering thinking back to what he overheard Snape saying earlier. Snape liked him? Harry couldn't help but wonder how long the man felt this way. Harry remembered when his feeling towards the man changed so drastically. He couldn't imagine his world without the sarcastic man. Harry finished and dried off still mulling over this morning's revelations as he dressed. 'At least Severus seemed happy with the addition of the potions journals,' he thought to himself. Harry stopped dead at that last thought. 'Severus, why did he refer to the man as Severus? Why now? Merlin help him if he slips later and calls the man that.' Harry shrugged and headed off to breakfast.

 

The day went swiftly from that moment on. Harry managed to successfully block the Potions Master's attempts at gaining entrance to his mind each and every time. Lunch was a pleasant time and they spent the time discussing what they would work on for Defence. After dueling in the Entrance hall Harry started dinner and was surprised when Severus started helping with the preparations once he older man recognized what Harry was making. They worked in a companionable silence and as soon as the meal was done and on the table they began to talk while they ate.

 

"I do believe at the end of this week we'll be able to dispense with the formal Occlumency lessons. You've made a lot of progress these past few days. I'll be testing you sporadically while we work on your dueling. I think Saturday we'll begin dueling outside. You'll need to work with uneven terrain as well as dueling with numerous blockages. The forest outside will be well suited for the latter."

 

"That's great Professor. I highly doubt Tom will manage to break into the school itself, so I'll have to face him either out on the grounds and forest or at Hogsmead."

 

"That will mostly likely be the case. Perhaps when the Headmaster deems us worthy of leaving his private little hell we'll map out the village and work out some strategies for you to use if needed."

 

"Sounds like a plan to me Professor!" As they continued talking Harry felt himself fall deeper into his feelings for Severus. Without the anger that usually crops up between them absent the professor was quite comfortable to be around. Harry made a silent vow to himself to tell the man about his feelings for him before he left school for good. He had a suspicion that the man wouldn't touch him if he was still his student and he would respect that.

 

The rest of the week went much too quickly for Harry. He was only half way done with his holiday assignments and the extra reading Severus assigned him. He steadily ploughed through the material and his daily lessons. Saturday finally arrived and Harry was excited. When they stepped out onto the grounds of the snow globe Severus began pointing out areas that Harry could use as cover and other areas where he would have to adjust his spell casting because of obstacles in his way.

 

Once the preliminaries were done they began to duel. Harry used the spells that Severus and Draco taught him, as well as a few he learned during those Voldemort induced sleepless nights, and managed to hold his own against the older wizard. Here and there Severus made comments or corrections. For the first time since he heard that prophecy in his fifth year Harry felt he might survive the snake-faced bastard.


	7. Chapter 7

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 7  
By Corgi**

Albus Dumbledore was quite pleased with himself. It seems that his two boys were behaving themselves in the globe. He was positively gloating over the apparent ease of his plan. No one noticed that the two weren't in the school. Minerva always saw an image of Harry sleeping in his bed when she did the evening head count. Severus was known to lock himself in his dungeons for the entire holiday and not set foot out unless Albus himself went to fetch him. Yes, everything was going without a hitch. Little did the old man know that his plans were about to be uncovered, for a very upset Minerva was currently banging on Severus' doors in the dungeon.

 

"Severus, are you in there? Open up it's an emergency!" Minerva shouted through the closed door. He reached into her pocket and withdrew her wand. As she began dismantling the wards the paranoid ex-spy erected she was interrupted by a certain blonde Slytherin.

 

"Good afternoon, Professor McGonagall. Have you seen Professor Snape?" Draco asked the Head of Gryffindor politely. "I haven't seen him all week and I really need to speak with him."

 

"So do I Mr. Malfoy. I'm dismantling his wards to make sure he's okay. He may have had an accident working on one of his experimental potions. "

 

The blonde boy stood aside and watched the Gryffindor Head quickly remove the wards. Once they were down she bypassed the password and entered with Draco hard on her heels. Room by room the two searched finding not one sign of the Slytherin Head of House. Worried Minerva started casting several spells to see if the man was taken by force. His private rooms were clear. With out a word she left the rooms locking them once she and Draco were out and headed to Severus' office. Once inside she repeated the procedure she used on Severus' quarters. This time she had a positive result and she was on the verge of panic. Severus was removed against his will and so had Harry.

 

"I'll have to inform the headmaster. Mr. Malfoy given the circumstances would you be able to talk to me about your problem? You can have my entire afternoon after I see the Headmaster."

 

"As much as I would prefer to talk to my godfather I will take you up on the offer. Thanks Professor McGonagall. I'll meet you for tea in your office?"

 

"I'll see you then Mr. Malfoy. Hopefully I'll have some news for you."

 

Minerva rushed up the stairs taking the shortest route to the Headmaster's office. Shouting out the candy of the week to the gargoyle as she scurried towards it, Minerva raced up the stairs and opened the door without knocking. Trying to catch her breathe from her run she turned to Albus, who just smiled serenely. 

 

"Albus, Severus and Harry are gone! They were taken from Severus' office."

 

"They are fine, my dear. I sent them somewhere safe for the holidays." Albus' eyes were twinkling madly as he watched Minerva's reaction.

 

"Where did you send them, Albus? Severus has additional responsibilities here, namely Mr. Malfoy who desperately needs to speak to his godfather!" Minerva was starting to get angry once the initial shock wore off.

 

"Don't worry, Minerva. They are safe and perhaps their vacation will be a learning experience."

 

"Albus, I hope you're aware of Severus' feelings about the boy?" Albus was about to comment when Minerva cut him off. "I mean his real feelings, not the one he uses as a defence. I've seen him watching Harry when he thinks no one's looking."

 

"I am aware of Severus' feelings regarding our Harry, but he refuses to believe that anything will ever come of it. You know he's afraid of undoing his barriers, my dear." Albus' eyes had a sad look when he thought back to those earlier conversations with Severus. "I just want the two of them to learn how to work together. They could become friends if they truly tried."

 

"Albus, I love you dearly, but your plan may backfire quite spectacularly. It could be either very bad or very good." Minerva glared at Albus and noticed his eyes shifting to the snow globe on his desk. She hoped it didn't mean what she thought it meant. "I guess you haven't noticed Harry when he's not with his friends?"

 

"What do you mean, Minerva? I haven't seen Harry without someone constantly at his side."

 

"What I mean is Harry has been looking at Severus the same way. I managed to get the young man to confess over tea. If he finds out about Severus' feelings and gathers the nerve to tell Severus' about his it could be either good or bad. Severus may accept them or flat out refuse telling Harry something that could shatter what little confidence he has."

 

Albus eyes twinkled a bit during the first part of Minerva's lecture and dimmed at the last. He sighed and looked at the snow globe and saw two robes figures moving out into the snowy grounds of the replica. He barely registered Minerva moving around his desk and taking a closer look at the globe until he startled gasp pulled his attention back to her.

 

"Albus, you didn't?"

 

"Yes I have, my dear. They needed to be isolated so they could learn to work together. We need them to function as a team in the coming battle. This was the only safe place I could think of for them."

 

"Albus…." Minerva was cut off by the startled exclamation voiced by the headmaster.

 

Flashes of light flickered in the globe as the two figures started throwing hexes at each other. Both onlookers noted that they weren't the hexes normally taught at the school. They noticed the taller of the two figures in the globe was shouting at the other as he dodged hexes or sent others at the smaller. Albus started to get angry. 'Severus knows better than to duel with the Dark Arts in this school!' Albus thought to himself as he watched. Minerva looked on her eyes watching the scene closely trying to make out what Severus was saying.

 

"This has gone far enough. I'll have to up the ante. Severus knows better." 

 

Minerva tried to interrupt but Albus just went on mumbling to himself. Giving up she said goodbye and headed down to her office to meet Mr. Malfoy. When she arrived the blonde Slytherin was already outside her door waiting. She opened the door and allowed the young man to enter. She closed the door and offered the younger man a seat before summoning some tea and cakes.

 

"Professor, did you find out what happened to Professor Snape? Is Harry with him? I haven't seen him all week either." Draco couldn't hold back his questions or hide his concern.

 

"Yes, I did, Mr. Malfoy. The Headmaster deemed it necessary to send them someplace safe for the holidays. They are both alright. Since when have you been on a first name basis with Mr. Potter?"

 

"Since this summer, Professor, it is a rather long story."

 

"Well, that certainly is a surprise, as is you taking up my offer to talk."

 

"The summer was filled with surprises, Professor. My godfather told me that if he wasn't available and if I couldn't wait for him to take my problems to you. He said I could trust you."

 

"I'm quite honored to have Severus' trust and seal of approval. Perhaps you should tell me what you believe I should know."

 

"I might as well start with the summer and meeting Harry outside school. It's all part of my problem." Draco then proceeded telling the Deputy Headmistress about Harry's situation and their summer.

 

"I told the Headmaster those Muggles were trouble!" Minerva growled under her breath. 

 

"It only gets better. You know about the work my godfather did for the Headmaster?" Draco continued after receiving an affirmative from the witch. "Well the day they were going to torture and kill him Mother, Harry and I stopped at the manor where the 'festivities' were going to happen. Harry and I let lose with some of the Weasley twin's gags and smuggled my godfather out of the dungeons. It was rough going since they 'played' with him before throwing him into the cell to wait for the Dark Lord. We managed to get him past the wards and placed Harry's emergency port key into his hand to return him to the school."

 

"So that's how we got him back. Well done, Mr. Malfoy." Draco colored at the unfamiliar praise before diving back into his problems.

 

"New Year's eve father wants me to take the mark. I'm not going to be given a choice about it at all. I don't want to and I don't know how to avoid it. He said he's going to send me a port key to take me to the meeting. Can you help me?"

 

"Yes, first we'll have all your mail sent to my office and I will check everything for port keys and curses. Second, I'll set up my guest room in my quarters and you'll spend the rest of the year in there, or at least until Severus returns. Is that acceptable Mr. Malfoy?"

 

"Yes, Professor, thank you. What about this summer?"

 

"We'll worry about that later on, but most likely both you and Mr. Potter will be spending the summer here. If we're really lucky we'll manage to save your mother before You-Know-Who can harm her."

 

"I can hope, Professor. I should go and pack. Thanks again, Professor."

 

"You're welcome, Draco." Minerva watched with sad eyes as the young man left her office. She was afraid that they may be too late to save the boy's mother when his defection comes to light. She was sure the woman knew that her life would be forfeit because of that fact.


	8. Chapter 8

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 8  
By Corgi**

Severus was quite pleased with the dueling practice they had outside. Harry took the criticism well. No glares or muttered words under his breath. He just accepted it and moved on. Such a difference when you compared them to potions or their earlier Occlumency classes. Satisfied with the way things are now going between them Severus was sure the Headmaster would let them out soon. They still have the occasional blow up, after all people don't get along all of the time. Severus headed for their room to get ready for bed. He saw Harry sitting in his night clothes and robe doing his Charms homework. The younger wizard looked up when he enter and gave him a smile. Severus' body responded to that smile in a very inappropriate way. Inwardly thanking any deity that cared to listen and take credit for his lose fitting robes.

 

"Almost done, Potter?" He asked in a brisk voice as he entered the bedroom to change into his night shirt.

 

"Not quite, Professor, but I think I'm going to leave it for tomorrow. I've re-read the last few lines several times already. The dueling lesson today really took a lot out of me."

 

"We'll have to build up your stamina. Constant spell casting puts strain on the body's resources. The more spells you cast the longer you'll last in combat. Perhaps we'll start that in the mornings since we've stopped the formal Occlumency classes."

 

"What does it entail, Professor?"

 

"You'll be do repetitive spell casting for the most part. You'll cast all the lower level spells in rapid succession. Think of it as Muggle weight lifting in a gym. It's a similar process."

 

"So as I build up my magical reserves we move on to heavier weights, being second then third year spells?"

 

"Exactly, Mr. Potter. The world must be coming to an end, you're actually thinking!" Severus was surprised at the teasing tone in his voice.

 

"Well then Hell has truly frozen over when someone in the wizarding world couches a concept in terms I understand." Harry returned his sally with a wide grin and sparkling eyes. Severus quickly retreated back into the bedroom to hide his rebellious body's reaction to those eyes.

 

'Really, I'm an adult and should have some control,' Severus muttered to himself as he struggled to regain his compose and rein in his libido. 'I mustn't let Harry see me like this or he'll run in disgust or hex me into next month.' After several deep breaths and visions of the Dark Lord dancing in the nude, Severus managed to control he rebellious nether regions. Another thought stopped Severus cold as he turned to talk to Harry again. 'Bloody Hell! When did I start referring to the brat as Harry?' He raised his mask with difficultly as he re-entered the sitting room.

 

"If you aren't going to finish your homework then come in here before I pass out. I don't fancy sleeping on the loveseat or floor, Mr. Potter."

 

"I'm coming, Professor!" Harry said as he set his papers and books aside. Little did he know the effect that poor choice of words had on his Professor.

 

Severus watched as Harry walked into the room and pulled off his dressing robe. He let the younger wizard settle into the bed first while he steeled his nerves. Harry settled down in his usual spot and quickly fell asleep. The young man wasn't kidding when he said he was tired. Severus watched him sleep for a few moments before sliding into bed. He made sure he had his back to the boy as sleep claimed him.

 

Discomfort woke Severus in the early morning hours. The room was very cold and despite the warm body Severus had once again wrapped his arms around. He could see frost coating the windows by the light of the dying fire. He rolled over, grabbed his wand and with a muttered charm sent the flames in the fireplace roaring upwards. As he settled back down into the bed he unconsciously returned to holding the young man. Shivering a bit in the cold he tucked the blankets closer around their bodies. It was so cold he wasn't going to concern himself over the position he woke in. Harry burrowed closer to him as his subconscious noticed the cold. He settle back down quickly and Severus closed his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep. 

 

Sleep seemed to elude him as the minutes ticked by. Severus was content just to lie there listening to Harry breath as he relaxed in the slowly warming room. He felt Harry shiver and before he knew what was happening, the younger man rolled over until he was facing Severus. The younger man snuggled close to Severus and settled back into sleep with a murmured 'so warm'. The new position was too much for Severus' body and the reaction was immediate. Whomever Harry was dreaming about was doing the same to his body. Severus could feel the evidence poking at him every time he shifted. How Severus wished it was him Harry was dreaming about. Throwing caution to the wind Severus pulled the younger man closer and ran through a few meditative exercises. After the third repetition sleep finally reclaimed him.

 

When Severus woke up for the second time that morning the room was once again freezing and the fire had burned out while he slept. Harry was still in his arms and facing him and Severus thought he was still asleep. He shifted a bit to ease a strain in his back and the blankets slipped off him a bit letting in a cold draft that made Severus shiver violently. 

 

"Why's it so cold, Professor?" Harry asked with his teeth chattering. Severus held his breath expecting a horrified outburst from the green-eyed youth.

 

"I don't know, Mr. Potter. I do believe it's logical to blame the Headmaster for this latest torture."

 

"You're probably right. Are we still on for converting him into potion ingredients?"

 

"If it gets any worse we certainly will be." Severus responded dryly while wondering what else could go wrong. He was grateful for the fact Harry didn't seem to be fussing about the position he awoke in.

 

Once they were dressed they found out how much worse it could be. Garish red, green, silver and gold decorations were draped over every wall, banister and doorway in the building. Echoing through the corridors were Christmas Carols. Not any old Christmas music, but the music Severus hated with a passion. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Harry flinch when the sights and sounds rolled over him.

 

"Merlin, is my Aunt Petunia here?" He asked in shock.

 

"No, I don't think she is, but I do detect the Headmaster's lack of taste in the decorations." Severus glanced at Harry as the walked to the kitchen as quickly as they could. "You lure him out of his office and I'll hit him from behind."

 

"Sounds like a plan to me, Professor."

 

Breakfast was quickly made and eaten to the muffled din of the Christmas music. Once that was done they tried their hardest to ignore the music and decorations in favor of building Harry's stamina and skill at dueling. Finally it became too much and shortly after lunch they retreated to their rooms. Harry settled down to work on his homework while Severus sat on the loveseat alternately reading one of his Potions journals and watching Harry. Severus watched as the young man finished the Charms homework he started the night before and move on to his Defence Against the Dark Arts work. His brow furrowed as he read through the material and shook his head several times.

 

"What seems to be the trouble Mr. Potter?"

 

"This assignment Holt assigned on shielding charms, the book contradicts everything I've read concerning them for the Tri Wizard Tournament. I'm not sure whether to toss the book aside and go with what I read earlier or stick with the book."

 

Severus then spent the next hour debating with Harry the theories and facts about shielding charms and the various uses for them. All in all it was an enjoyable hour and Severus was impressed as to how well Harry held his own during their debate, not that he'd ever admit that to the boy. Harry went back to his essay and quickly finished it with a flourish.

 

"I'm going to take a walk before dinner, alright?" 

 

"Certainly, I'll meet you in the kitchen in an hour."

 

"Oh, do you have a favourite dessert, Professor?"

 

"Why do you ask, Mr. Potter?"

 

"I'm dying for some sweets and thought you might like some too. If I can I'll make your favourite."

 

"I happen to be fond of flan, though I rarely see it. The house elves tend to stick to traditional desserts."

 

"Ah, something simple! I can make flan in my sleep. It'll be nice to make it for someone who'd appreciate it for a change." Harry gave Severus another of his dazzling smiles and skipped out of the room for his walk.

 

Severus smiled at the boy's retreating back and went back to reading his journal; his thoughts being constantly diverted by images of Harry.


	9. Chapter 9

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 9  
By Corgi**

Harry jogged through the garishly decorated hallways to the Entrance Hall. In the middle of the Hall was a huge Christmas tree with gold griffins and silver snakes strewn about its branches. Red and green fairy lights flickered on and off at random intervals. It was six days before Christmas and some packages were already under the tree. Harry ignored them in favor of escaping the din of Christmas music echoing through the building. He couldn't help but be thankful their rooms and the kitchens were free of the music, though they still could hear it, muffled, through the doors.

 

Harry escaped into the snowy landscape of the globe. He wandered aimlessly across the grounds watching his breath smoke in the cold air. He couldn't understand why it was suddenly so cold in the globe. The previous week they were comfortable in the ambient temperature of Dumbledore's office. Now it was so cold, it felt like the Potions classroom in the winter months. Harry became slightly alarmed and wondered if something happen to the school while they were stuck in the globe. Harry raced down the path to the gates of the school and instead of seeing the Headmasters desk or Fawkes he saw nothing but sky and white.

 

Harry panicked a bit before he regained control and tried to examine the scenery out side the globe. He couldn’t see much from his vantage point so he started to run along the glass walls imprisoning them. The scenery remained white until a familiar spot of color caught his attention. He recognized that tall structure the color was draped on. They were in the stands on the Quidditch pitch! He wondered why Dumbledore put them out there. Weren't they doing what the man wanted? This was the first time since he started school the two of them were able to work together without one argument. 

 

Harry started to jog back to the castle to tell Severus what he saw. As he ran back he thought back to this morning. Waking up wrapped in the man's arms a second time was wonderful. Just thinking about it made Harry feel warm. He was grateful the man didn't freak about the position they were in, but then again it was much too cold to not share body warmth. Harry hit the doors at a run and quickly made his way to the kitchens. He arrived before Severus so he started to gather the ingredients for the promised dessert.

 

After he gathered the ingredients he needed he mentally ran through the recipe to make sure he had everything. While he was doing so Severus entered the room. Harry looked up at the man's entrance and smiled. Harry noted the effect his smile had on the older wizard and his smile brightened. He reached up into the over head cabinets to get mixing bowls and dessert bowls for the flan. 

 

"I found out why it's so cold in here when I went for my walk." Harry said over his shoulder. Severus' raised eyebrow encouraged him to continue. "The globe was placed in the stands on the Quidditch pitch. I think we're in the Ravenclaw section."

 

"Did you see if the school's alright?"

 

"I didn't go all the way around. I stopped when I found out our location. The snow on the pitch was completely smooth so it's possible that the Headmaster placed us out here."

 

"Why would that indicate the school's intact?" Harry could see by Severus' face that he knew the response and just wanted to see what Harry made of the situation.

 

"It would be a logical place for Voldemort to launch and assault against the school from. The Headmaster's windows are spelled to overlook the forest and the mountains to the north of the school. Professor McGonagall's office overlooks the courtyard where we have our flying lessons and she enters her office everyone at six so if they attacked then she wouldn't see anything to sound an alert."

 

"Very good, Mr. Potter. Though I'm surprised that you know Professor McGonagall's windows overlook the pitch."

 

"Well I had a few bad weeks back in September. No matter how strong my silencing charms were my screams during my nightmares would shatter them. She insisted on my moving in until the worst of them were over."

 

"I was led to believe that it was the Headmaster you went running to after those nights."

 

"I used to. I haven't been as close to the Headmaster as I used to. I've been keeping everything to myself, that is, until Professor McGonagall insisted that I confide in her."

 

"I see." Severus walked over to the larder and started pull out feta cheese, olives and other ingredients that Harry couldn't see. "We'll have something Greek tonight I think. I could never remember what this dish is called, but my mother was fond of it."

 

Harry just gave the older man a smile and began caramelizing the sugar for the flan. Once the sugar was the appropriate he carefully poured the bubbling liquid into the crocks lined up on the counter. Once that was done he set them aside and started to beat the eggs and add each of the other ingredients according to the recipe filed in his head. Once done he poured the custard into the crocks and placed them in a pan filled with water and set them in the oven to bake. He set the hourglass timer to remind him when to take the custards out.

 

Harry looked up as saw Severus watching him. The older wizard just leaned against the counter just watching him work. Harry decided that he was going to do the same once he finished spelling the bowls clean. Snickering silently to himself he put the dishes away and settled down at the table to openly stare at his heart's desire. 

 

"After we eat I wish to find a view of the school just to make sure nothing has happened. For all we know the Headmaster may have place us here during an attack on the school."

 

"All right, Professor, when I started to search for our location I went to the left of the school gates so maybe if we start heading to the right we'll come upon a view of the castle."

 

Severus just nodded his head and began preparing their meal while Harry kept his eyes glued to the man. As he watched Severus chopping and mixing Harry would see the older wizard shift his weight from one foot to the other several times. He could one of Severus' ebony eyes glancing at him before the man would turn his head away trying to hide a slight flush. Harry couldn't help tormenting the man a slight bit, though he debated whether he should tell the man about his own feelings. Harry decided not to, since he didn't want to spoil what little rapport they acquired during the first week. Harry was distracted from his sport by the timer going off. He pulled their dessert out of the oven and removed them from their water bath. Once he set them on the counter to cool he returned to his blatant staring at Severus.

 

Despite his growing discomfort from Harry's stare, Severus finished the meal in what seemed to Harry a short time. While they ate Severus gave him a run down on what they were going to work on now that it was too cold for them to work out on the grounds. 

 

"Let's go find the castle before it gets dark. With the luck I've been having we'd end up in the lake or lost in the little hell of Albus'." Severus growled through clenched teeth the moment he thought of the Headmaster. "We both should put on a second cloak. It'll be colder now that the sun's setting."

 

"I'll bring the custard upstairs. That way won't have to come back here afterwards."

 

Once they had another cloak each the made their way to the front 'gates' and went to the right following the glass until they reached the lake. Like the globe's Forbidden Forest, the lake didn't have any of its normal occupants. Slowly the made there way to a point where they had a view of the real castle they called home. Seeing that everything seemed to be alright with the school they made their way back to their prison. As they walked Severus pointed out areas where Harry could use to his advantage if the school was attacked or places that would be a good rally points if he needed them. 

 

"Do you have any idea why the Headmaster would do this? I thought we were doing what he wanted." Harry asked, his confusion plainly displayed on his face.

 

"I don't know. I've never been able to figure the meddling old man out. He's come up with some insane ideas over the years, but he always manages to get what he wants in the end." 

 

They made the rest of the trek back to their domicile in silence and headed straight to their room. They spent the rest of their evening much like that last one. Harry did his homework while Severus read his potions journals making notations in the margins. Unfortunately for Harry, all good things come to an end. The next two days started to show a marked decline in Severus' mood. The man began to become irritable, especially when he left their rooms. The music echoing throughout the building they were trapped in started to grate on the man's nerves. He snapped, snarled and fired off nasty comments during their lessons. The whole situation was starting to wear away at Harry's self control also, though he tried his hardest not to rise to the older man's baiting or make any comments that would shatter the small peace they had.

 

The afternoon of that second day Harry escaped the building into the sunlight outdoors of the globe. He noticed on his way out of the Entrance Hall's that there were patches of water all over the floor. He wondered were the water was coming from as he went outside. Soon he had his answer the moment his foot touched the ground beyond the doors. His foot immediately sunk into a puddle. He looked around and noticed water dripping off the towers and trees in his line of sight. He took a few moments to realize that the snow was melting from the sun light being magnified through the globe's glass walls. Harry decided to ignore his wet foot and continued his walk not bothering to return to the building for lunch. He just didn't feel up to any sort of confrontation with Severus. He wandered throughout the snow globe's grounds lost in his thoughts. There where times when he wanted to tell Severus how he felt about the older wizard and recently there were times that Harry decided he was never going to open his mouth about it. 

 

The sun started setting and the temperature in the globe began to drop rapidly. Harry headed back to the building at a run. Not one of the brightest things he's done recently. He entered the building, which was cooling as rapidly as the outside, and promptly felt his feet fly out from under him. He cracked his head sharply against the flagstones, but didn't lose consciousness. Painfully he got back to his feet and slowly made his way towards the stairs. He leaned against the banister for support and looked back the way he came and noticed the puddles he saw earlier were beginning to freeze. He must have stepped on one of them before he fell. 

 

Now that he had that mystery solved he had to decide where to go; the rooms or the kitchen. He stomach decided for him and he slowly made his way towards the kitchens. He didn't get far when a hex was sent flying towards him. He quickly countered and dove for cover. He took his mind a few moments to remember that Severus decided that part of his lessons would consist of Severus ambushing him when ever the older wizard felt he was off balance. Harry successfully staved off the attacks that followed, but his head ached so much he was having difficulty clearing his mind. As Harry struggled to block off his mind Severus attacked with a 'Legilimens' Harry was barely able to hear.

 

Try as he might he couldn't keep the man from his mind. He was in too much pain to concentrate. Images started racing through his mind, his 6th birthday, his 11th birthday with Hagrid, Dudley and friends pounding him during lunch one year, Christmas when he was 7 and the broken knights he received from the Dursleys, Ginny unconscious at the base of Salazar's statue, Cedric falling to the ground, Sirius tumbling into the Veil, and worst of all the dream he didn't want Severus to see. He couldn't force the man out; he couldn't throw another memory out to deflect the man's attention. Helplessly he saw the whole scene play through until Severus ended the spell.

 

"Pathetic, Potter! I see I've wasted my time trying to teach you if you could be surprised like that!" Severus sneered at Harry. Harry looked up in shock while rubbing the back of his head. "What would your father think of you? Bedding your own godfather! Did you do Lupin too; perhaps a little threesome at Grimmauld Place?" Disgust was written quite plainly on Severus' face.

 

Harry was torn between tears and anger. He stood their flabbergasted while he continued rubbing the bump on the back of his head. He didn't know how to retaliate against the accusations from the pale wizard in front of him. After several stunned moments of silence Severus sneered at Harry once again and opened his mouth to utter more scathing comments. Before he could Harry exploded.

 

"Did you actually bring back information when you were spying? Your powers of observation are just so stunning!" Harry snarled back at Severus. He felt dizzy for a moment and place the hand he was rubbing his head with on the wall to steady himself. "Did you notice the foggy edges? If I had the amount of experience you seem to think I do wouldn't there be a hell of a lot more DETAIL? You've known my godfather for over 20 years. Wouldn't you know what he looked like after all that time?"

 

"How dare you take that tone with me, boy!" Severus snarled as he advanced a couple of steps towards Harry.

 

"Well excuse me for thinking your brain was functioning! One would think as skilled as you were you'd recognize a memory of a dream, but no you obviously can't." 

 

"You forget your place, Potter!"

 

"Well excuse me, PROFESSOR, for thinking we had at least become friends this past week. So sorry, professor! I guess it was too much to expect from you. To believe I thought you were human. I suppose not. There probably isn't a person in there at all. That's it your not a human you're just an automaton that does whatever is expected at a flip of the switch. Here's a new flash professor, that wasn't my godfather in my dream. You'd recognize him if you'd get your head out of your arse! Goodnight, Professor, enjoy your night on the loveseat." 

 

With that the tears that were threatening to fall did so and Harry spun on his heel and stumbled out of the building as quickly as his aching head would allow. He never noticed the stunned expression on Severus' face nor the bloody handprint he left on the wall.


	10. Chapter 10

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 10  
By Corgi**

Severus watched Harry leave with stunned eyes. He really didn't note the erratic way the younger wizard was walking before he became lost in his own memories. How he hated this holiday. Why was Albus punishing him like this? The old fool knew his reasons why he hated this holiday and why did the man have to pick these songs in particular? He couldn't help but become more and more irritable as Christmas day drew near. When he was younger he was like every other kid and looked forward to the morning of Christmas to arrive. He father didn't hold with the holiday but his mother put out all the stops. Sure there wasn't enough money, but his mother made due with charms and what she could make with her own two hands. Severus didn't care much for the fancy ornaments and presents all the people his father associated with had; he was perfectly content with what his mother did every year for the holiday. Everything was perfectly fine until he came home for the holiday during his first year at Hogwarts.

 

_He stepped off the train at King's Cross and looked around for his mother. She said she would be waiting at the station for him. He waited and waited but she never arrived. Taking matters into his own hands he went to the station's public floo and used that to go home. He stepped out of the fireplace in his family's sitting room and barely registered his father's presence, nor did he see the fist flying towards his head. His head rocked back from the blow and as he lost his balance he cracked his head on the mantle as he fell. Blackness filled his vision as he succumbed to unconsciousness._

_When he regained consciousness he found he couldn't move. He struggled and struggled and tried to shout for help, but found that his voice no longer worked. He was spell bound to one of the dining room chairs in front of the tree his mother brought in from the hills surrounding their home. His father was standing in front of the tree he and his mother were supposed to decorate that night, snarling at something at his feet. When the older man stepped away Severus saw his mother lying unconscious on the floor. He struggled to free himself from the binding spell so he could go to his mother's side but he failed miserably. His father looked at him, madness was clearly evident in the man's eyes, and removed the silencing charm on Severus before rounding on him._

_"I told you to that I didn't want to see you until school let out for the year, you worthless little pile of filth. How dare you disobey me!" His father spat at him and little drops of spit flew all over the place during the man's rage._

_"Mother asked me to come home for Christmas." He replied in a small voice and desperately tried to disappear._

_"You follow my orders not your mother's. This is my house and my orders are the only ones to be obeyed. AND DON'T TALK BACK TO ME!" Each of those last words was punctuated by a slap to his face._

_"Caesar, leave the boy be. He didn't do anything wrong." Severus could see his mother's slow movements as she tried to get to her feet and once again step between him and his father._

_"He disobeyed me and you've encouraged him to do so. He will be raised as I see fit, woman, and I'll not have you interfering anymore."_

_Severus' father then whipped out his wand and proceeded to torture his mother right before his eyes. Try as he might, Severus was unable to free himself once again. He could sit there and try to block out what was happening and failed. Once his father was done venting his rage, he left here there and allowed her to bleed to death. Severus' was removed from the room and locked into his own bedroom. That night his nightmares began and continued as his father force fed him the Dark Arts for the rest of the vacation._

 

Severus jerked back into the present day and found himself kneeling on the icy floor. He came back to school that year withdrawn and silent. His Head of House, Professor Nocturn, noticed immediately that there was something wrong and set about finding out what. The man did his best to corner Severus, but Severus managed to dodge the man left and right. Eventually the Care of Magical Creatures Professor roped the rest of the staff and the Headmaster into trying to find out what happened to him. A week after school restarted Severus received the dreaded black owl. He guessed that his father managed to get away with murdering his mother and now he had to go to the funeral a week after the fact. Much to his surprise his Head of House decided to go with him. The second shock was Professor McGonagall's presence. They both stood beside him during the entire ordeal.

 

That day his respect for the Gryffindor Head sky rocketed. His father dragged him away from the group of people at the funeral and started in on his usual line of insults and threats. Unfortunately for him it wasn't far enough. Minerva had heard every word the man uttered and the smack that followed. He'd never seen the woman so angry before and he hoped to never see it again. She did impress with the massive right hook she floored his father with. 

 

The present day Severus gave a small smile at that memory and tried to shake off the rest. He would have confided in his Head of House, but the poor man became a victim of one of his lesson plans. It wasn't until the following year that he told someone what happened to his mother and about the treatment he received from his father. He told Albus about the abuse but Minerva's constant attention eventually broke through his barriers. They were the only people Severus allowed close to him, even to this day, though he'd never let anyone know that. It was too risky.

 

Finally able to put the memories back into the corners he shoved them into years ago; Severus brought his thoughts to the argument he and Harry just had. He couldn't understand the surge of jealousy he had when he saw that memory in Harry's head. As loathe as he was to admit it, the young man was right, he should have know it was a dream he was looking at. He shivered as the temperature dropped in the building and slowly got to his feet. He didn't know if he could rectify the situation with Harry. He may have damaged things between them beyond repair. He looked to the spot when Harry stood while he vented his spleen on him and his eyes widened. Upon the wall was a handprint in what looked to be dried blood. How long was he standing around lost in his memories? He walked to the wall to examine the mark and shuddered when he confirmed it was blood. Harry had been rubbing the back of his head while screaming at Severus. Did the boy hit his head during the lesson? 

 

Severus paused for a moment trying to remember which way the boy went after finishing his rant. He went outside his memory confirmed and Severus glanced out the nearest window and noticed that night had fallen. He quickly set off and began to search for the boy. The blasted snow that constantly fell in this little hell made his task difficult. The path the boy's passage made was filling in rapidly and Severus followed the trail; hoping that he wasn't trailing the one made earlier that afternoon. Luck went his way for a change because he could see a lump of black in the snow several feet in front of him. He saw the matted spot on the back of the boy's head and guess that the brat had a concussion. He'll know more once he got the boy back into the building and in front of a fire. He levitated the unconscious boy and hurried back to the building, nearly losing his balance several times as he slipped on patches of ice under the snow. 

 

Severus set the boy down on the loveseat and built up the fire on the hearth as much as he could. He gathered every item of clothing they had between them and piled them on the boys freezing body after he spelled the boy dry. After packing the clothes around the body he added a warming charm and hoped that the boy wouldn't get to sick. Albus didn't provide them with any potions incase they got sick. He went to the bathroom for a wash cloth to wash the cut on Harry's head and then he could heal the gash. He enervated Harry once he was done settling the pest in and healing what he could. He hoped the boy didn't have a concussion, he didn't recall as much medi-wizardry as he thought. He decided to proceed as if the boy had one. Better safe than sorry. 

 

"Harry, look at me," Severus said in a coaxing voice, earning in an odd look from Harry. "Harry! Don't go to sleep. Stay awake. Understand?" Harry gave a small nod and winced in pain. "I'm going down to the kitchen to get some supplies. I'll be back quickly as I can. Stay awake!"

 

"No sleep, Sev'us kitchen, be right back." Harry's use of his first name startled him, but he didn't think much of it. 

 

Severus made his was cautiously down the stairs and to the kitchen. He noticed patches of ice all over the flagstones on his way to the kitchen. Once there he went through the cabinets, pulling all the herbs and spices out and placing them in one of the cauldrons he found, and gathering ingredients for a soup. That way he didn't have to hover over dinner while trying to take care of Harry. Silently cursing Albus for not providing them with medications once again he returned to their rooms with two full cauldrons floating in the air behind him. As he passed the huge Christmas tree that dominated the Entrance Hall a familiar handwriting caught his attention. It seems that the Headmaster was sending their gifts to them in the globe. Once again Severus wished for a means to communicate with someone on the outside. Tramping words in the snow won't cut it this time. Swooping swiftly he grabbed the package that caught his eye and determined that it was his annual gift of books from Minerva. He brought the books with him and took the stairs two at a time while carefully avoiding the frozen puddles on the stairs.

 

He made it back to their rooms and noticed Harry was still awake, though shivering. He set the cauldrons down on the floor, his books on the table and drew his wand. He quickly scanned the boy hoping that there weren't any serious injuries. Sighing in relieve at the results, Severus tucked his wand into his sleeve and looked over at Harry. The boy luckily didn't crack his skull open though he was going to be feverish as the night progressed.

 

"You've got phenomenal luck; you managed not to break anything. Are you feeling nauseous?"

 

"No, I'm just cold."

 

"That's what happens when you take a nap in the snow, Harry." Severus didn't notice Harry's surprised look or his calling the boy by his name. "I do believe it's safe enough to let you sleep for a while. I'll wake you in a couple of hours for dinner. I hope to have enough ingredients from the spice cupboard to concoct a fever and pain reducing potion."

 

"Alright, Severus," was Harry's inaudible whisper before he shut his eyes and allowed sleep to take him. Severus' eyes widened at Harry use of his first name again. 

 

He sorted through the kitchen supplies he brought up and soon had a soup bubbling over the fire. On the table he transfigured several of Harry's quills into utensils he'd need, a napkin into a marble slab to protect the table and a roll of parchment into a tripod to support the cauldron. Once done with that he rummaged through the herbs and spices he pillaged from the pantry for the appropriate herbs for a basic fever reducing potion. Once the potion was simmering and ready to be left alone for a brief time he went over and looked at the package from Minerva. The silver and gold paper she habitually used on Severus' Christmas presents was marred by a letter taped to the front of the package. He opened it wondering what his colleague has to say.

 

_Dear Severus,_

_I hope you're doing well in Albus' snow globe. What the old fool was thinking I can not tell you. I tried to take it the other day but I couldn't find it; Albus must have put it someplace else._

 

'The crazy old fool put us out on the blasted Quidditch Pitch and left us to rot,' Severus thought to himself before continuing to read his letter.

 

_I'd like to give you a small word of caution concerning our Mr. Potter. Severus, his self confidence is fragile despite the act he displays to the world at large. He's very much like you, Severus, and tends to project the image he thinks our world expects of him. He's been confiding in me this term and some of the things he's hinted at worries me. Also I know how you feel about him. Now, now before you begin to rant and rave about how spoiled he is and how much you loathe him, just remember that I too can hide in the shadows and watch people. The advantages of being a cat, my dear, are no one notices us, even crafty spies. I've noticed how you look at Mr. Potter and I know Albus has too. No, I won't even suggest what I know the Albus has already insinuated. I'll just say that you haven't burned all your bridges. Some are still repairable._

_I have a very pleasant guest this Christmas. Young Mr. Malfoy is currently staying with me until you return. It seems his father plans on having him join You-Know-Who's ranks this New Years and he doesn't wish to have this happen. I've offered him my protection and I hope we'll manage to rescue the boy's mother before she's used as leverage against him. I know it isn't a realistic hope, but I won't ruin his holiday with dark thoughts. Young Mr. Malfoy sends his love, Severus and also wishes Mr. Potter a Happy Christmas. The end of the Potter/Malfoy feud was another pleasant surprise though the circumstances behind it weren't. I told Albus those muggles were the worst people imaginable._

_Severus, your package this year has four books. Three of them are from me and the fourth is from someone who asked me to keep the book in my quarters since it's quite old and valuable. Inside the first of the books I gave you is a spelled parchment that will allow you to communicate with me. I banking on the fact that you may be bored and looking for a distraction. I smuggled the paper in when Albus requested everyone give him our gifts to you so he could pass them on. It will work with any form of ink, be it berry stain or magical ink. I'm sure you'll enjoy the books, Severus, and I hope to hear from you soon._

_Minerva_

 

By the time Severus finished reading the letter the final ingredients for the fever reducing potion needed to be added. Stirring the cauldron the appropriate number of times Severus doused the flames with a flick of his wand and set the potion off to the side to cool. He then turned his attention to the soup he started earlier and decided it was done. He snarled silently to himself when he discovered the lack of bowls and utensils. Several more items around the room were sacrificed to make what they needed. Once everything was ready he turned to the loveseat to wake Harry.

 

"Harry, wake up. It's time to eat," Severus said while lightly shaking the younger wizard's shoulder. Green eyes opened after a few moments and tried to focus on him. He handed Harry the glasses the younger had put on the table before falling asleep. Severus noticed anger, sadness and a touch of something he couldn't put a finger on in the boy's eyes as he handed Harry a bowl of soup.

 

"Thanks, Professor," Harry whispered and slowly began to sip not once looking at Severus.

 

"I've got a dose of fever reducing potion for you to take after you eat." 

 

"Alright."

 

Severus frowned at the boy. He couldn't figure out why the boy was so withdrawn. They've had arguments before and he did act this way afterwards. He thought back to Minerva's warning and wondered if he hurt the boy irreparably. He tried several times during the meal to draw the younger man into a conversation and each time only received a single word in reply.

 

"Mr. Potter, what is wrong with you?"

 

"Nothing."

 

"Don't tell me its nothing, Mr. Potter. You're normally not one to sit quietly and I've been trying to talk to you all evening." Severus got up and poured some of the fever reducing potion into a glass and handed it to Harry, who drank it with a grimace. 

 

"You've made yourself perfectly clear concerning how you felt about me, so just leave me alone!" Harry winced in pain when he finished.

 

'Damn,' Severus thought to himself, 'I've managed to make a mess of this. I wonder if I can salvage this mess before Minerva kills me. Do I really want to relive those memories again today? Would it even help?'

 

"I didn't mean any of that, Harry. I was just lashing out because of my hatred for this holiday. The Headmaster has made it ten times as bad with this little idea of his." Silence greeted Severus' hesitant declaration, but Severus continued his explanation. "All these decorations and music have been grating on my nerves and there's no escape for me. Even in here we can still hear the music blaring."

 

"I used to hate Christmas before I came to Hogwarts," was Harry's quiet response. It seemed to Severus as if it was unwillingly pulled from him.

 

"During my first year here, my mother wanted me to come home for Christmas Holidays. My father on the other hand didn't want to see hide nor hair of me. I came home only because my mother insisted. She didn't show up at the train station to pick me up so I used the public floo to go home. I was met by my father's fist and I awoke bound to a chair. My father then commence with his usual barrage of verbal and physical abuse once he knew I was conscious. My mother was unconscious at the foot of the tree she levitated into the house, but during my father's routine she woke and tried to get him to stop. My father then vented his madness on her and beat her death right in front of me. The rest of my holiday was spent learning the Dark Arts under my father's less than gentle tutorage." Sometime during his recital he sat on the floor leaning against the loveseat, which surprised him when he shook the fog of his memories. He jumped a bit when he felt Harry's hand squeeze his shoulder. He laid his own hand over the younger wizard's and the shock he received on contact sent shivers down his spine. He had to mentally tell his libido that NOW was not the time to act up.

 

"The Dursley's never let me celebrate with them. I was either locked in the cupboard under the stairs or sat in a corner watching my cousin opening huge piles of presents. Anything I got from the Dursley's was either broken or worn to practically nothing." Severus looked up in surprise at the softly spoken confession. Another preconceived notion of Severus' was shot down. "My first real Christmas was here. Ron's Mum sent me a hand knitted jumper. Hagrid gave me a flute that sounded like owls."

 

"I suggest we go to sleep now. Neither one of us has had a particularly good day." Severus said quietly while thinking he wasn't going to get much sleep tonight. 

 

Severus went into the bathroom to prepare for bed and then helped Harry into the bathroom. He heard the water running in the shower and while keeping an ear open for any sounds of the boy falling went into the living room and picked up the cauldron, and then levitated the table and one of the chairs inside. That way if he woke before Harry he could sit and write to Minerva. He remembered to retrieve the stack of books he hadn't unwrapped yet. Harry stumbled out of the bathroom with a damp head and made a beeline for the bed that appeared the moment he left the bathroom. He settled into the blankets and was asleep before Severus could blink. 

 

Severus spelled the younger man's hair dry as he slept and made sure the fire was built up as high as he could make it before climbing into bed himself. While lying there waiting for sleep to come he went back in his mind and tried to recall the dream sequence he observed during their lesson. Harry said he should recognize the person in the boy's dream and as he watched the dream replay in his mind he had the vague impression of recognition, but couldn't place the person. Until he noticed the hands, he knew those hands. They were his. 'Merlin,' he thought to himself, 'Harry's dreaming about me?' His mind ran around in circles with the revelation until something bumped into him and jarred his thoughts from the rut they were stuck in. Harry and shifted towards him and Severus debated shifting away and then decided to throw caution to the wind and gathered the boy into his arms. Minerva's comments about bridges finally made sense now that he knew the boy had some sort of feelings towards him. They had a lot to talk about tomorrow. With that last thought Severus drifted off to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 11  
By Corgi**

Harry woke in the wee morning hours once again wrapped in strong arms. His head ached abominably, he felt overly warm and yet the heart beating beneath his ear made him loath moving. A sudden chill ran down his spine and he shivered. As he tried to snuggle closer to the warm body holding him a cool hand felt his forehead and moved away slightly. At a whispered word from the other person the room brightened. Concerned black eyes stared at Harry as another shiver shudder his body.

 

"Harry, are you feeling any nausea?" Severus asked, looking at his eyes closely. 

 

"No, my head still hurts and I'm cold." Harry replied with chattering teeth. He tried to burrow back into the warmth, but Severus slipped out of the bed and went to pick up a goblet and poured some of the fever reducing potion he made earlier into it.

 

"Drink this, it'll help some. It's not as potent as the brew I make for the infirmary, but it’s the best I could do given the Headmaster's conditions." Severus watched as Harry drank down the potion with a grimace of distaste. 

 

After swallowing the foul concoction Harry watched Severus place the goblet back on the table, build up the fire again and ease himself back into bed. Harry wanted to return to his former position against older wizard, but didn't want to be pushed away if the closeness wasn't acceptable to the other man. Harry was surprised when Severus' arms wrapped around him and pulled him closer. 

 

"Professor, I…" Harry began before being cut off by his Professor.

 

"Go back to sleep, Harry. We'll talk later." 

 

Harry rested his head against Severus' chest again and listened to the older man's steady heartbeat. Harry surrendered to the pull of sleep and as he fell into its depths thought he felt a kiss pressed against the top of his head. It was late morning when Harry woke again and this time he found himself alone in the bed. A scratching sound could be heard in the room and after a few moments he identified it as quill moving over a parchment. Harry figured Severus was still in the room since the bed was still there for him to be lying in. He rolled over and watched the older man write at the table he levitated into the room last night. Severus was bent over the parchment his was working on and the older wizard snickered a bit before writing more. Harry was over come by curiosity. Snickering and laughter was something one normally didn't associate with the dark-eyed Potions Master.

 

"What are you working on, Professor?" 

 

"I'm writing to your Head of House." Severus continued to write before turning his attention back to Harry. "How are you feeling this morning?"

 

"Better, thank you. How are you writing to Professor McGonagall?"

 

"She stashed a spelled parchment into her annual Christmas time donation to my library. It's allowing us to write back and forth. Right now they're going to figure out how to sneak some basic necessities in to us. Now where did you say the Headmaster stashed us?"

 

"We're in the Ravenclaw review stands."

 

"Good. Professor McGonagall and the other concerned staff members are going to look for the globe on the pitch and hopefully bring it back inside before the old fool succeeds in freezing us to death."

 

"That's good. Maybe they can work on a way to get us out too."

 

"That's a thought. I'll see if she'll get Professor Flitwick on it once the find the globe." Severus scratched something onto the parchment before turning to Harry again. "Why don't you shower and change and I'll reheat the soup from last night for breakfast. After that we'll settle you down on the loveseat for the rest of the day."

 

"I'm fine, Professor."

 

"Madam Pomfrey's orders and I'm not about to question them. The woman is absolutely ruthless. She could give pointers to the Dark Lord on the subject."

 

Harry laughed and headed into the bathroom for a shower. He still felt a little off despite the good night sleep but he didn't think it warranted bed rest. He knew how Pomfrey acted and wouldn't put it past her to dose Severus with one of his own truth serums once they were out of here. Harry stepped into the warm spray of water and thought back to earlier this morning. Waking up in Severus' arms was the stuff Harry's fantasies were made of. He really wished Severus didn't find the memory of his dream the other day. Though why Severus thought the image of him was Sirius was beyond Harry comprehension. How he wished for once that something in his life would go right and he'd get that one little thing that would make life worth living. It didn't pay to get his hopes up. Reality crashed down way too frequently for Harry's liking. On that depressing thought Harry finished his shower, dried off and got dressed before re-entering the bedroom.

 

Severus had rearranged the furniture in the bed room, this time adding the love seat from the sitting room to the arrangement. As Harry entered the room the bed popped back into existence again. He walked over to the fire place and saw the cauldron of soup Severus made the night before bubbling over the fire. Harry figured he was going to be told to eat the moment the older wizard noticed his presence in the room so he just helped himself to some of the soup and sat at the table. Severus was bent over the parchment Professor McGonagall sent him scribbling away. Harry couldn't help but watch the man as he ate his soup. Harry imagined those graceful fingers were touching him and not the quill and parchment. He couldn't help himself despite the man's reaction to the dream he viewed during their duel yesterday. Severus stopped writing and looked up at Harry and Harry quickly turned his attention completely back to his soup. He missed the small smile Severus had on his face when he noticed Harry's stare.

 

After Harry finished his breakfast Severus insisted on bundling Harry up on the loveseat. Once again he used every stitch of clothing the two had and then he gathered up the bedding and added that to the pile. He placed Harry's school books and parchments with in easy reach. It was really too much for Harry.

 

"Is this really necessary?" Harry whined.

 

"Yes it is. Not unless you want an extended stay in the Hospital Wing once we're out of this blasted piece of glass."

 

"No, no I don't." Harry immediately folded. He couldn't stand being in the Hospital Wing and didn't want to see the inside of it this year if he could help it.

 

"I'll be down stairs looking for McGonagall's care packages and getting the rest of today's meals set." Severus said while snickering under his breath. The older wizard left and Harry resignedly turned towards his Transfiguration homework.

 

After working for a while on the assignment Harry fell asleep with his text open across his chest. This pretty much set the tone for Harry's day. Harry would work on his homework a bit then he would nap waking up only to start over again. The routine was broken only by Severus' arrival with the promised supplies from McGonagall and Pomfrey. Then the repetition would begin again with another break courtesy of Severus with a bowl of soup for lunch. Harry fell asleep again shortly after lunch and remained asleep until a shouted curse from Severus startled him awake.

 

"What's wrong?" Harry asked quietly. 

 

"They couldn't find the globe. The Headmaster must have put some concealing or invisibility charms on the blasted thing."

 

"Wonderful, what else could go wrong?"

 

"Don't tempt fate, Harry." Severus replied as he got up and went to the cauldron on the fire and ladled out what looked to Harry to be stew. He handed Harry the bowl of stew and retreated to the table. He studied Harry while the younger man ate. Harry couldn't contain the squirm the man's steady gaze caused. He felt like a mouse caught in an owl's glare. He could barely eat thought he managed to force down the food. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the conversation the believed the Professor was going to have with him. Once he finished the stew he set the bowl aside and unconsciously curled in on himself. He withdrew into himself desperately trying to cushion the blow that has yet to fall though he knew it would soon. 

 

"Why me, Harry?" Severus asked quietly into the room's silence.

 

"Why not?" Harry countered.

 

"The list of reasons why not would be too long to state here and now. So I ask again why?"

 

"I don't know why. It just happened before I knew what was going on." Harry drew a shuddering breath before continuing in a shaky voice. "Every time I closed my eyes and my nightmares didn't come you were there. Every time I heard your voice shivers ran through me. I've seen you at your best and worst, especially during the past year. You never uttered a sound at the horrors inflicted on you by Voldemort and Malfoy. Even as Draco and I dragged you out of Malfoy manor you didn't utter a sound despite the pain you must have been in."

 

"You and Draco? How did you get me back to Hogwarts then?"

 

"We sent you back with my emergency port key. Mr. Weasley made it for me and it goes directly to the hospital wing."

 

"You left yourself without a means of escape!" Severus shouted as a fit of anger raged through him. "Of all the stupid things! Don't you ever think?"

 

"I did what I had to do. You may not be able to spy anymore, but you still know how the lunatic thinks and can plan accordingly. Also Professor Dumbledore would have been devastated if something happened to you." The last was said in a barely audible whisper that Severus had to strain to hear.

 

"I'm at a loss as to what to do with you." Severus said mostly to himself as he got up from the table and moved towards the loveseat. "You drive me insane with out even trying, brat. Everything I am tells me to turn away and run despite the two people I trust above all others telling me to do something for myself." 

 

Severus sat on the edge of the loveseat and looked deeply into Harry's eyes. Harry lost track of what Severus was saying to him as he got lost in the dark eyes before him. Harry was beyond hoping and fear started to creep up his spine. For some reason he started to withdraw into himself . Harry didn't know why, but he felt he was going to be rejected and took steps to lighten the blow when it came. He didn't look at Severus and was surprised when he felt the man's hand cup his chin and gently force his head up. He still wouldn't look Severus in the eye despite the man's attempt to get him to do so. Harry nearly leapt out of his skin when he felt Severus' cool lips press against his own chapped ones. Severus took advantage of Harry's little gasp of surprise and deepened the kiss, exploring Harry's mouth thoroughly. Harry's hands crept up and fisted into Severus' robes as he held on for dear life and prayed that he wasn't hallucinating. The kiss continued until the need to breathe became overwhelming. 

 

Harry stared into Severus' eyes while slowly bring a hand up to rest against the older man's cheek as if reassuring himself that it wasn't a dream. Severus closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. They remained that way for several long moments and neither wanted those moments to end. Eventually Severus opened his eyes and gazed into Harry's eyes again and then carried the younger wizard to their bed. Once he covered the two of them he leaned in for another electrifying kiss before coaxing the younger wizard to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 12  
By Corgi**

Severus wasn't planning to kiss Harry when the spoke about the young man's dream. He wanted to tell him that they would have to wait until he was finished with his schooling before they could start any type of relationship, but the way the younger wizard withdrew into himself tugged at Severus. Harry was expecting a rejection and was doing his best to deflect the pain he was going to feel. That small insight made Severus change his mind and kiss the green-eyed vision before him. He hoped he wouldn't get burned starting this relationship, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. He guessed that Minerva knew of her young charge's feelings towards him and figured he may be able to count on her support when the fact came to light.

 

The first touch of his lips to Harry's sent fire burning through his nerves and it wasn't the debilitating fire of pain, but the one of heightened awareness. He never felt this bolt of electricity before in his life and while he took advantage of Harry's gasp of surprise to explore his mouth his mind ran in stunned circles. Harry responded to the deepened kiss and fisted his hands in Severus' robes while allowing Severus' to explore his mouth at his leisure. When the need for oxygen demanded they separate they stared at each other with slightly dazed eyes. Harry gently touched Severus' cheek and he couldn't fight the need to lean into the touch. It was a long, long time since someone has touched him that gently. He didn't know how long they stayed that way before he gathered Harry into his arms and carried him to their bed. They shared another kiss, which was as electrifying as the first, and afterwards coaxed his companion to sleep. 

 

Severus spent most of the night staring out into the darkness and listening to Harry's breathing. He didn't know what to do about Albus and his meddling ways. He was afraid that the old wizard wouldn't be as happy as he indicated when he found out the truth. Minerva was a different story all together. She got involved with Albus in her 7th year and they were still together long after that. Severus believed that he could count on her to support Harry and himself. Severus wrapped his arms tighter around Harry and allowed the younger man's breathing to lull him to sleep.

 

Morning arrived and Severus woke long before Harry did. He just laid there and ran his fingers through Harry's messy mop of hair. He didn't let his thoughts focus on much of anything as he lazed in the warmth made by their bodies. He didn't want to think, fearing that any thoughts he'd have would destroy the moment. He didn't want to contemplate the future though he desperately wished to be out of this globe and in the comfort of his familiar dungeon rooms. He wondered briefly if Harry's presence in those very rooms would brighten the drab walls.

 

Severus was startled out of those thoughts he didn't want to think by warm kisses trailing down his throat. A low moan escaped his mouth as Harry's found the hollow between his collar bones. He shifted position and pinned the younger wizard beneath him. Severus captured Harry's lips for the first time that morning and the shock of contact was no less electrifying than their kisses the night before. Severus nibbled lightly on Harry's lower lip and then plunged his tongue into the mouth that opened willingly for him. He explored Harry's mouth at his leisure and then coaxed the younger man into exploring his mouth in turn. Harry's inexperience was evident in his tentative strokes, but he quickly gained confidence and his motions became surer. Harry's hands brushed along his cheeks and moved on to tangle into his hair. One of his arms was pinned behind Harry the hand cupping the younger man's head and his other was stroking Harry's side. 

 

They broke apart panting for air before diving back in to continue. He could feel Harry's erection poking at his hip and his own was throbbing in time with his racing heart. The sudden overwhelming need of his body surprised him and he knew a cold shower or his own hand wouldn't be enough. Taking the younger wizard right here without proper preparation was out of the question. Unconsciously Severus shifted his weight and rubbed his cloth bound erection against Harry's. They both moaned into each other's mouth and Severus repeated the motion. Soon he established a rhythm and after a few false starts Harry matched his movements. Sheer need forced them to move faster and faster as they moaned into each other's mouths. Harry's hands grasped his shoulders as they progress and Severus began trailing kisses and nips along his jaw. As Severus began to work his way down Harry's neck the younger wizard's movement became erratic.

 

"Severus," Harry cried as he came with small humping movements.

 

Hearing his name called out with passion was too much for Severus. As the body beneath went limp from pleasure he came and his cry of 'Harry' was muffled in the crook of the younger man's neck. Both men collapsed in a tangle of limbs in the afterglow. Harry looked at Severus with glazed eyes. The young wizard pressed his lips against Severus' in a slow sleepy kiss. Severus tangled one of his hands in Harry's messy mop and tucked the younger man's head beneath his chin, while pulling the youth closer with the other. One of Harry's hands was trapped beneath Severus and the other was stroking Severus' side. Before either man knew it sleep ambushed them and dragged them into its depths.

 

They awoke with in moments of each other in the early afternoon. Severus couldn't help the small rare smile from forming when he saw the brilliant light in the younger man's eyes. Severus kissed Harry's forehead in greeting and then shooed the younger wizard into the bathroom. While waiting for the younger man to finish his shower, Severus ignored the discomfort of his dried seed pasting his pants against his skin. He glanced at Minerva's parchment to make sure there weren't any new developments in the struggle against the Dark Lord or with Albus the loon. Satisfied that there wasn't anything wrong back home Severus started to unpack the trunk that was hidden amongst the package from Madam Pomfrey. He pulled out the extra blankets the ladies had sent him and Harry. He set some of them along the back of the loveseat for Harry to use during his enforced idleness and the rest went into the storage cupboard until they were needed later that night. Severus opened the other two books from Minerva and chuckled at her choice in books this time. She seemed to be stuck on murder mysteries and is duplicating her private library for him. Looking forward to reading her latest favorites at a later date, Severus turned his attention to the mystery book Minerva was holding for someone else. Before his curiosity had the chance to be satisfied, Harry bounced out of the bathroom with a smile.

 

Harry's smile quickly dimmed when Severus gestured at the loveseat. With a put out sigh Harry flopped onto the loveseat and was quickly bundled up by Severus, who then handed the young man his Charms text along with a fresh supply of parchment. Severus gave the boy an evil smirk and then a glare when he noticed the brat sticking his tongue out at him.

 

"Be careful, Harry, or I'll bury you in the snow." Severus threatened with a hint of teasing in his voice.

 

"If you throw me in the snow I'll tell Madam Pomfrey and you'll be her victim for the rest of the year after she cracks your skull open. She'll make you heal the muggle way." 

 

"Cheeky brat, don't complain about the arrangements here."

 

"How long am I going to be tortured like this?"

 

"You're stuck until we're out of here. As you mentioned before Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be happy if her orders aren't followed. So bed or the nearest facsimile is where you're going to stay."

 

Harry gave him a pout and then a sigh as he turned to his homework. Severus just smirked and headed to the shower. Severus stripped out of the robes he slept in the night before and grimaced in pain as he peeled his glued pants off, taking a few hairs along for the ride. Why his brains went on vacation this morning he'll never know. All it took was a wave of a wand and a muttered charm and this mess would have been taken care of. Grumbling to himself he stepped under the spray of hot water and thought back to the last day. He couldn't resist the small smile as he remembered that first kiss and that gentle touch. He hoped they could hide their relationship from Albus when school resumed. Hopefully Minerva could bully the old man into releasing them by the end of the holiday. If it wasn't for the blasted music and the horrid decorations this wouldn't have been as hellish as it is now. 

 

Loath has he was to admit it, he enjoyed that first week with the brat. He'd never tell a living soul that. He wondered if this would last more than the few months Harry had left at Hogwarts. He didn't know the young man's plans for the future, other than the inevitable confrontation with the Dark Lord. Severus hoped they both lived through it. Severus longed for his freedom. His freedom from the mark and his freedom to choose whether he'd remain teaching or move on, he just wanted to be free to live as he chose. Was that too much to ask of the world? 

 

Severus finished his shower quickly before he could drive himself into a depression and dried himself off. He dressed as fast as he could before the chill he felt creeping up on the rooms could penetrate more. The rapid cooling of the rooms worried him as he rushed out of the bathroom and noticed the frost forming on the windows. He built up the fire and made sure Harry was tucked in warmly on the loveseat. He wasn't joking when he indicated he didn't wish to be in Poppy's ill graces. 

 

"I'm going down to the kitchen for some supplies. Stay put!"

 

"Okay, okay, I'll stay put. I won't go anywhere but the bathroom."

 

"Make sure you do so." Severus turned and headed down stairs.

 

Severus strode down the stairs avoiding the many ice patches littering the stones of the building. He headed straight for the kitchens and gathered what ever meats and vegetables that he could make quick and simple meals with. He hurried back upstairs and made their lunch before Harry dozed off again. Once the meal was made and eaten Severus handed Harry several vials of potions Poppy sent which the latter took with a resigned expression. Harry quickly downed the potions with grimace and handed the vials back to Severus with a small smile. As Harry turned his attention back to his homework Severus returned to the parchment and started to write to Minerva.

 

_Good afternoon, Minerva. Any luck with the old coot?_

_Good day, Severus. No I haven't had any luck with Albus. He's adamant about the situation and insists that you two are safe. Unfortunately for Albus, Fawkes isn't of that opinion. I asked him to look for you and he couldn't locate you either. I had thought since the phoenix had such a high affinity for you and Harry, he would be able to find the two of you out on the pitch. The spells Albus used on the globe must also block Fawkes' ability to find people._

_Damn that old man. I will get him back for this. Harry has suggested using him as potions ingredients and I do believe I'll follow that plan. Unless some better punishment is found._

_You are too much, Severus. How are you and Harry getting along?_

_We're getting along better, Minerva. We did have a bit of a problem the other day that we're still sorting out. The decorations and that blasted music Albus is torturing me with are wearing on my nerves. There is no escaping it. Even in the rooms we can still hear it._

_I'm sorry, Severus. I can say I'm very happy to hear that the two of you are getting along. I would love to ask 'how well', but I would fear for my life if I did ask._

_You would be quite correct, Minerva. I would rather talk to you in person about any developments. You know how I hate leaving information like that in writing._

_I know, Severus, I know._

_How are things on the Malfoy front?_

_Lucius sent Draco a package with a port key in it. I've been having the young man's mail sent directly to me so I can check it for anything that will harm the boy. There are several things that are questionable and I would like you to check them over. I do believe there are potions imbedded with in them._

_I'll see to them once I'm free of this prison. Don't touch them yourself._

_I won't, Severus. I've left them in their boxes. I just didn't like the aura they give off. Other than that Draco is fine though I do believe he's come to the conclusion that his mother will not survive his defection._

_Unfortunately, Minerva, it may be a forgone conclusion. The Dark Lord will use her to blackmail Draco into his service or as punishment for not joining. Either way we'll lose her. Unfortunately the Black estates she inherited will not go to Draco. They will revert to who ever is Sirius Black's heir._

_You mean they'll go to Harry? Then its more than likely Harry will sign them over to Draco, especially now that they are no longer at each other's throats._

_Harry? I didn't know that Black left the boy everything._

_Yes, he's Sirius' sole beneficiary and Harry also gained control of those properties and assets that once belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange. The ministry confiscated those and returned them to the main Black holdings when she was convicted._

_I'm surprised Black didn't leave anything to his pet werewolf._

_Remus refused to be added to Sirius' will. I do believe Harry bullied him into accepting one of the Black family cottages and an allowance. I do believe the young man tricked him into the allowance. I'm not sure of the whole story._

_I think I'll try and find out later. Thank you for the books, Minerva. I'm looking forward to your next selection of books. You never cease to surprise me._

_You're very welcome, Severus. Hope you have a pleasant day, dear._

_Thank you, Minerva. Good day to you._

 

Severus set down his quill and looked over to Harry and saw that the young man had fallen asleep. Severus spent several moments just watching Harry sleep and as he did so amazement crept into his trail of thought. How did he get so lucky? He never expected to find that Harry had the same feelings he did. He wanted to take things slowly with Harry, but didn't count on his own hormones starting up and protesting their lack of involvement. He'll have to let Harry determine their pace and do his best to tame those annoying hormones of his. It was just his luck that they would surface after their very brief appearance in his 6th year.

 

Severus tore his eyes away from Harry and once again noticed the last book from Minerva's package. He wondered who it was from since it was rare that one of his Slytherin's would give him a gift during the holidays. Usually the entire 7th year students would give him a gift before they left school for the outside world. Curiously he pulled the package towards himself. He knew it was a book but he didn't know what kind. It was a rather large tome really. Slowly he opened the wrapping on the book and blinked several times in surprise. The book was old, very old. He didn't see any lettering on the front cover or the spine. He opened the book carefully so he wouldn't damage the binding. Inside there was a sheet of parchment, with his name on it, folded inside the book.

 

_Dear Professor._

_Happy Christmas. I know you're probably in shock that you received something from me, but this is something I thought you can use. Before you protest the gift I have to tell you that it has been lying around the Potter family vaults for decades at least. I, as you know, have no skill when it comes to your chosen field and this book being locked away in a vault to rot is a crime. I know you would kill to get your hands on it once I found out how rare the book is. If you're uncomfortable with this gift consider it a loan or spell it to return to my family vaults when you pass on. Either way is fine with me though I do want you to have this._

_Yours,  
Harry Potter_

 

Severus stared stunned at the note and wondered which of the dozens of rare potion books Harry found in his family vaults. He looked at the book once again and turned the page. Shock radiated through him when he saw the opening page. The book was written by Merlin and there were only two copies in existence. Reverently he turned the pages looking at recipes for potions long forgotten. He truly didn't deserve such a gift even as a loan. 

 

"Surprised, Severus?" Harry asked in a sleepy sounding murmur.

 

"Shocked is a more accurate description, Harry. I would feel better if this was returned to your family vaults when I'm done with it. You can't put a price on a book like this. There are only two copies in existence."

 

"Actually the other was destroyed by Voldemort when he murdered the Sealy family during his first reign of terror. They set the house on fire after killing the family and the book burned with the house."

 

"Then this is truly priceless. I don't know why you'd want to give something like this to me." 

 

"Is it that hard for you to figure out?"

 

"Alright, you don't have to rub it in."

 

"I'm not, honestly. I do have to ask how you could have mistaken yourself for Sirius, though."

 

"I didn't recognize the face during the lesson. It was later on while going back through our lesson I remembered your out burst of 'you'd recognize him if you'd get your head out of your arse' and worked my way though the memories I saw during the lesson. I didn't recognize the face at all, but when the hands came into focus I knew they were mine."

 

"How is it you didn't recognize your own face? I mean there are potions that require the use of a mirror, so there's no way you wouldn't know what you look like."

 

"I guess it's just that I don't see myself the way you do. I am fully aware of my lack of looks and if I wasn't everyone else made sure that I did."

 

"I think you look distinguished. I learned a long time ago that what's on the inside that counts. Riddle was a handsome boy before he underwent all those transformations, but inside he's pure filth. I know there's something inside you that belies the exterior. I know its there because the Headmaster sees it clearly. Then again he knows you much better than I do."

 

"Perhaps we need to talk then?"

 

"I guess we do."

 

Severus moved to the loveseat and placed himself between the pillows and Harry. The two spent the rest of the day just talking. Harry told Severus about growing up with the Dursley's after Severus adamantly insisted he do so. Throughout Harry's detailed story Severus tried very hard to still his anger. Lily was his friend and he wished he paid a little more attention to the boy's early childhood. He remember Minerva's misgivings about leaving him with Lily's foul sister, yes Severus remembered all the tales Lily told of Petunia's behavior after she left for Hogwarts. Minerva hounded Albus about it all during Severus' first year of teaching. Severus purposely forgot all the things Lily said because of James and Harry paid the price. 

 

After Harry exhausted his memories of life with the Dursleys Severus began telling Harry about his life. He glossed over some things and avoided other things like the plague, especially some of the nastier pranks Harry's father and friends played on him. Harry looked up at him during a couple of those edited moments and Severus knew that Harry realized he was leaving things out. The younger wizard didn't call him out on it and let him finish with the first years of his time teaching.

 

"I'm sure you're aware that I've left some things out. I can't burden you with some of the things I've done during my time with the Death Eaters and I don't want to taint what memories you do have of your godfather."

 

"I'm sure there are things I’m not ready or able to understand. I hope that maybe some day you'll be able to tell me."

 

"Perhaps I will at a later date." Severus was surprised at the maturity the young man showed. He was expecting the boy to demand the rest of the information. "Now we'll need to talk about us. I really didn't plan on taking this further than a friendship. I was hoping to stall you until your schooling was finished and you had found a job you enjoyed. I'm not a hundred percent comfortable with an open relationship with a student."

 

"I had thought you might feel that way. If I was ever going to say anything to you about my feelings I would have waited until the Leave Taking Ceremony was over before doing so."

 

"Minerva hinted at your feelings, but it didn't click until I figured out your dream. Now that we've started this I do wish to keep it under wraps. I don't really feel up do dealing with Albus' overbearing twinkle. It's especially annoying when he gets what he wants."

 

"So you really want to keep this from the Headmaster?"

 

"Yes. You know how he is and I really would love to pull one over on him. I do believe we should talk to Minerva about it when were free of our prison."

 

"I understand. I really can't deal with the Headmaster's meddling. His habit of keeping things to himself is the reason we really don't talk anymore. After I lost Sirius we drifted apart and I've felt more and more like one of his chess pieces."

 

"He does care for us, though he does end up having to use us like weapons. The school is his life and everyone in it is his family. The Grindelwald murdered his wife, children and grandchildren while he was at a staff meeting one summer. As a result he pretty much treats everyone as his family, except the Slytherins. We don't really let him."

 

"That explains a lot, especially when it comes to you."

 

"Yes, he's definitely has taken up a father-like role in my life. He didn't really get too involved with me until after my Head of House died during the school year in my 6th. By then it was a little too late. I was already marked and doing things that turned my stomach."

 

"As far as we are concerned we'll work something out. It would only be for a few months since you're going to be done with school in June."

 

"I just have to figure out what I'm going to do when I leave. I did want to be an Auror, but my heart wasn't in it after Sirius died. That's the reason why I refused tutoring after the O.W.L.S. came back."

 

"That's something we can discuss during the rest of the year. We'll drag Minerva in on it too. By the time the school year is over we'll have some sort of plan worked out for you."

 

"I'd appreciate the help. I really haven't a clue about most of the options in the wizarding world. If I'm lucky I can get ride of my personal lunatic this year. He usually plans something for the end of the school year for me."

 

"We'll have you ready for that eventuality. You and I will continue with the defense lessons once we're out. Perhaps Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley would like to join you. I'm sure they'll be right by your side when the day comes."

 

"I'm sure Hermione will like to do so, but I'm not so sure about Ron. He runs hot and cold when it comes to you and he's slow to accept things." Harry face grew thoughtful as he considered something. "You do know that I'm still running the D.A.?"

 

"The D.A.? Oh, that club you ran under Umbridge's nose."

 

"Yeah the Defense Association, also known as Dumbledore's Army, is still meeting in the Room of Requirement every night. We've broken it up into two groups. 4th years and lower meet twice a week and the 5th years and up meet Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. Would you like to help with the older students?"

 

"Perhaps. We'll see what happens when we're out of here."

 

Harry just smile at Severus then narrowed his eyes staring at Severus' collar.

 

"What's wrong, Harry?"

 

"I never thought you'd be a jewelry wearer."

 

"I don't wear any jewelry."

 

"You've got a gold chain peaking out of your collar." Harry reached up and gently pulled the chain out of Severus' collar. 

 

Harry held the chain out so Severus could see it. There was a feather pendent on the necklace that looked vaguely familiar to Severus. Then it hit him that was one of Fawkes' feathers.

 

"I've forgotten about that. I thought I took the necklace off when my spying days ended. That was a means for me to pass information to Albus if I was caught or stuck in the Dark Lord's presence for an extended period. Phoenixes are telepathic with their wizard or witch and whom ever they wish to communicate with." Severus was annoyed at himself for forgetting that he still had the necklace. They could be recovered if he contacted Fawkes. "When I wrote to Minerva earlier she said Fawkes couldn't find us because of a spell Albus used. The spell blocked Fawkes' affinity to us so he couldn't find the globe to bring to Minerva. Fawkes isn't happy with Albus right now from what I can gather from Minerva. Perhaps if I use this he'll be able to focus in on us."

 

"You're going to try now?"

 

"I want to pack everything up first. Given the circumstances do you think you can handle making supper?"

 

"Yeah, I'm sure I can handle it. Feel up to stir fry?"

 

"Anything will be fine. Just keep yourself bundled up when you're not cooking."

 

With that Severus gathered up Harry's books and his gifts and packed them into a trunk. He headed down stairs and levitated all the gifts to Harry and himself. He shrunk all the packages, hoping that nothing would be damaged by the use of magic and packed them away. Once everything sent to them was packed Severus shrunk the trunks and headed back into the bedroom. The bed once again popped back into existence as he entered the room. Harry was cutting up meat and vegetables while the rice cooked in a small cauldron on the fire. Severus watched as Harry transfigured a quill Severus missed into a frying pan and added the cut up food to it. Severus turned around and picked up the only thing he didn't pack, the spelled parchment.

 

_Minerva, are you there?_

_Good evening, Severus. This is Poppy. Minerva is supervising the students outside._

_You'll do, Poppy. I do believe I have a way of helping Fawkes find us. I still have the feather I was given for emergencies. I'll communicate with Fawkes using the feather. I'll commence right after Harry and I have eaten. I'll ask him to bring us to the infirmary._

_Alright, Severus, I'll expect to see you here in a half hour or so._

_Thank you, Poppy. I'll see you soon._

 

Good luck, Severus.

 

Severus and Harry sat down to eat and while they did so Severus couldn't help the small pang of regret. Though the music and decorations had put a damper on things he was enjoying the time he spent with Harry here. He knew he was a right bastard the first day or so, but he hated not being in control of the situation. All too soon they were finished eating. They resumed their previous positions on the loveseat as Severus prepared to contact the phoenix.

 

"I'll hold on to you and Fawkes will hold on to me and teleport us out. Just stay relaxed. We'll be arriving in the hospital wing okay?

 

"All right. I've been carried by Fawkes so this will be something new."

 

"Well here we go."

 

As Severus began to grasp the feather and call out to Fawkes the room gave a heave and the furniture started to slide across the room. Suddenly both men were air born and everything not nailed down was colliding with them. The last thing Severus saw was the bed flying straight at him before darkness consumed him.


	13. Chapter 13

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 13  
By Corgi**

A very worried Madam Pomfrey paced up and down the center of the Hospital Wing. Severus and Harry were long over due. She paused to look out the Hospital Wing windows and saw snow being whipped around by the wind. 'Just what we need more snow in blizzard form,' Poppy thought to herself as she stared at the snow. Poppy hoped the storm wasn't the reason Harry and Severus were delayed, but with a sinking heart she knew that it was the case. She resumed her pacing hoping that Minerva returned soon. Much to her relief the door's to the wing banged open to reveal a snow-covered Minerva.

 

"Poppy, what's wrong? You only pace when something's wrong." Minerva's face held nothing but concern as she waited for Poppy's response.

 

"Severus wrote to us tonight. He said he might have a means to contact Fawkes and he said he'd initiate communications after he and Harry ate and packed. It's been over two hours since they were supposed to be here. I'm afraid this storm has something to do with it."

 

"I'll gather the staff and the 7th years and see if we can find the globe again. Perhaps Filius will have some luck with a summoning charm." Minerva seemed to be wavering between panic and rage. "I think there'll be a race to see which one of us kills the old fool. I'll return shortly, Poppy."

 

As Minerva turned to rush out of the Hospital Wing, a ball of fire appeared and materialized into Fawkes. He flew several quick and agitated circles over Minerva's head before landing on her shoulder.

 

**I've heard from Shade, Sharpclaw. He and the cub aren't well. I shall return with them soon.**

 

Once his message was delivered he disappeared in a ball of fire leaving Minerva and Poppy in the empty wing.

 

"Fawkes has heard from Severus, Poppy. He says they aren't well. Be prepared for the worst. I don't know what was in the globe with them. They could just be ill or severely hurt."

 

"Help me set up would you? I suspect we'll need a large amount of potions and bandages. The two of them spend more time in her that everyone else combined and multiplied by three." Poppy said with a week smile. "We'll definitely need the sedatives in the second cabinet on the second shelf. Oh, grab the restraints on the bottom of that cabinet please, Minerva."

 

"Why bring out the restraints, Poppy?" Minerva asked, curiosity written all over her face.

 

"I'd like to keep Severus here until he's completely healed for a change. The man's a mule and the only way he'll stay is if I tie him down."

 

Minerva shook her head in amusement and brought the requested items to the treatment area. Once everything was set up the two women sat down to wait for Fawkes, Severus and Harry to arrive. The moments dragged on and the two women became more and more alarmed.

 

Severus tried hard to open his eyes, but the pain running through his leg made his vision go blurry and his eyes close against the sensation. He struggled against the pain and eventually won. He opened his eyes to a completely dark room. The fire and torches were out and the room's windows were shattered. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him he was able to make out details. They currently were lying on what was once the ceiling of their bedroom. Their bed currently lying across his aching leg and the other furniture was situated on either side of them or out in the globes ever present snowy grounds. He searched frantically around for Harry. He couldn't see him, but as he patted the area around him he came in contact with the younger wizard's messy hair. 

 

Severus couldn't touch more than the top of Harry's head and drew his wand. He levitated all the pieces of furniture off of Harry and him. What couldn't be set aside was sent out the window. Slowly he uncovered Harry's body and he could assess the damage wrought on the young man's thin body. Harry was very pale and Severus could he his breath gurgling. He thought the boy's lung must be punctured from one of several broken ribs. He didn't try to touch or move Harry. Instead he fumbled for Fawkes feather and mentally called the bird and hoped he could get to them now.

 

**Fawkes!! Can you hear me?**

**Yes, Shade I can hear you. You still have my feather. I am surprised you kept it when it was no longer needed.**

**Fawkes, I forgot I even had it. We do need your help. Something happened earlier. It seems the globe Albus trapped us in was knocked from its perch. Harry's critically hurt and I've a broken leg. Do you think you can find us and get us out?**

**I can feel your location now, Shade. I will alert Sharpclaw and Flower to your condition. I shall be there shortly.**

**Thanks, Fawkes.**

 

The phoenix didn't give a verbal reply just a wave of feeling too complicated for Severus to sort out. He settled as close to Harry as he could and summoned on of the bed's blankets and draped it over their bodies as he waited for Fawkes to arrive. It didn't take long for the scarlet and gold bird to arrive and Severus was never more thankful to see the bird than he was now. He firmly wrapped his arms under Harry's arms before Fawkes latched onto Severus' robes to teleport them out of the globe. Everything went black as the bird began to transport them but then the dimly lit bedroom reappeared. Severus looked up in confusion at Fawkes who was equally confused. The phoenix gathered himself for another try and once again everything went black. When their surroundings came into focus again he found himself still in the destroyed bedroom in the snow globe. He looked Fawkes, who was shooting off false sparks in agitation, and received nothing but confusion from the mental link.

 

Fawkes looked about the room as if examining it and then flew around the room to get a closer look. Severus was startled when Fawkes let out a screech of rage and soared into the room he denuded of furniture. The phoenix flew back in and picked up the mattress and disappeared in a ball of fire with it. Fawkes flew back into the room and latched on to Severus' robes. The phoenix paused a moment so he could re-establish his hold on Harry before attempting to move them again. Instead of trying to leave the globe with them, Fawkes deposited them on the mattress in the barren room. 

 

**Shade, I'm going to have to move the whole globe. Winter has spelled the rooms to prevent you from leaving with me. You must keep in contact with me so I can find the globe.**

**I understand Fawkes. Good luck.**

 

Fawkes disappeared while Severus grasped the feather with one hand and kept a running conversation with the phoenix as he held Harry securely with his other arm. It took Fawkes about a hour to find the globe. The whole structure lurched as the phoenix found and lifted the globe into the air. Everything went black as the phoenix teleport the globe to the hospital wing. Soon enough he felt the globe bump as it landed on some surface. 

 

Are you and the cub alright, Shade? 

 

We're okay but I think Harry's ribs are broken. His breathing sounds very wet, like a lung is punctured. Please tell them to hurry Fawkes.

 

I've passed it on. Sharpclaw went hunting for Winter. The mood she's in now I don't fancy Winter's chances of survival. 

 

Alright, Fawkes.

 

Severus shifted slightly and kept his eyes glued to Harry and literally counted each breath. Severus felt helpless without his army of potion vials. The few he had wouldn't have done any good even if they didn't shatter when they were stampeded by the furniture. 'Hurry up, damn it.' Severus screamed in his mind as he watched Harry's labored breathing. Fear crept up his spine when the thought of losing Harry entered his mind. He wouldn't be able to bear the loss, especially since their situation was so new to both of them. His thoughts starting going into a downwards spiral as he continued counting each breath Harry took, until a voice in his head jerked him out of his stupor.

 

**Shade! Shade! Snap out of it!**

**Sorry, Fawkes. What do you need?**

**Flower says to sit the cub up. It will help his breathing.**

 

Severus slowly levered himself into a sitting position, while gritting his teeth against the pain shooting up from his broken leg. With his back against the wall he gently pulled Harry into a sitting position against his chest. The younger wizard's breathing sounded better to Severus, though it didn't ease his fear much.

 

**Enough, Shade. You're negative thinking isn't helping matters.** Fawkes' mental voice was sharp with reproach, something Severus has never heard from the phoenix before.

 

**I know Fawkes; it's just upsetting to know he could die from this.** Severus told the phoenix in emotion laden thought. He didn't fear letting the large scarlet and gold avian know about his fears and such. He's loyal to those he trusts with Albus and Severus had no fear of his secrets being spilled by Fawkes.

 

**You fear the pain he may bring, especially since he's just recently snuck into your heart. I understand, Shade, and everything will be well. Sharpclaw has enlisted Firecat to help in her crusade.**

**Firecat? Who's Firecat?** Severus was extremely puzzled. Fawkes' tendency to make up names for everyone was troublesome when he didn't know the phoenix's tag for someone.

 

**Close your eyes and let me touch a little deeper than normal. I'll be able to show you who Firecat is.**

 

Severus followed Fawkes' directions and started a bit at the phoenix's heavy presence in his mind. Fawkes turned his head so one of his eyes focused on Poppy's office. Looking through Fawkes' eyes was a bit disorienting due to the placement of the bird's eyes. In the office Minerva and Poppy were backing Albus into a corner, both women were yelling at him. A shrill yell heralded Molly Weasley's charge into the fray and both Minerva and Poppy took several steps back to allow her a clear path to Albus. Her high pitched scolding made Albus cringe as the woman advanced on him until she was screaming up into his face. All Severus could understand from her was 'let those boys out now'. Fawkes' warm mental chuckle rang in Severus' mind as he watched a smug Minerva leave Poppy's office with a subdued Albus' trailing behind.

 

**Brace yourself and the cub, Shade.**

**I will, Fawkes. Perhaps, one of the days, you'll tell me why you never use our names.**

**That's easy enough, Shade. I don't like them. They don't suit you humans most of the time.**

 

Fawkes' mental laughter once again rang in his head before the phoenix withdrew completely from Severus' mind. After several tense moments of waiting Severus felt magic surrounding his body like a net. As the magical net pulled Severus' body, Severus closed his eyes steadying his stomach as his body was hauled away. Severus' body bumped onto a floor and pain raced up his broken leg. He hissed as the pain threatened to make him black out. He kept his eyes firmly closed and didn't opened them until he felt Harry's weight lifted off of him. His eyes snapped open and he watched Poppy levitate the younger wizard over to one of the hospital beds. Severus felt his own body started to levitate off the floor. Wildly he looked around and saw Minerva with her wand aimed at him.

 

"Close your eyes, Severus; it'll make the movement easier to bear." Severus did what Minerva suggested and opened when he felt himself settle on a bed. 

 

"Thanks, Minerva." Severus looked around the wing and noticed Harry was on the next bed being treated by Poppy. Another glance around the wing allowed him to spot Albus sitting on a chair on the other side of the room with Molly Weasley standing nearby glaring at him.

 

"Severus, where are you hurt?" Minerva asked softly.

 

"I've a broken leg this time, Minerva." Severus' dry humor brought out a small smile from Minerva.

 

"Fawkes only told us you two were unwell. He didn't mention how badly Harry was hurt."

 

"I do believe he was trying to keep you both from panicking. He's given Molly an interesting name."

 

"I wasn't aware that Fawkes' could communicate with anyone other than Albus," Molly entered the conversation with curiosity written on her face. She must have heard Severus mentioning her name.

 

"Fawkes can communicate with anyone he chooses, but it's easier with those close to the Headmaster. Minerva and I can talk to Fawkes regularly and I believe Potter may be able to do so after this farce." Minerva gave Severus a puzzled look at his use of Harry's surname. Severus gave the witch a pointed look that said 'later', before continuing to talk to Molly. "Fawkes has a habit of giving people descriptive names instead of using their given names. He says he doesn't like them because they don't suit us. He calls Albus Winter, Minerva's called Sharpclaw, he refers to me as Shade, and he's dubbed you, Molly, Firecat." 

 

"Well that's interesting, though I wonder why he chose Firecat," Molly mused out loud.

 

"Perhaps it's that fiery temper you recently displayed in Poppy's office," Severus offered in a dry tone and smirked when Molly blushed. 

 

Molly didn't have a chance to say anything further as Poppy pulled the curtain around Harry's bed and moved to Severus' bed side carrying some restraints. Molly's eyes widened in surprise and when she saw the rising anger in Severus eyes she fled the vicinity. 

 

"What do you think you're going to do?" Severus' eyes flashed angrily as he eyed the restraints.

 

"I'm tying you down so you can't escape to your dungeons the minute my back is turned like you normally do. I want to make sure that you don't have any internal injuries that the pain in your leg may be masking. In order to do so you must stay overnight. I'm just making it easier on myself."

 

"I can not stay over night, Poppy. I have pressing business…" Minerva, who was standing at the head of the bed, was the only one who heard the barely audible 'in Surrey'. 

 

"I'm sure what ever it is can wait. You will stay here. Now drink this. I have to set your leg and it'll be better if you weren't awake for it." Severus grudgingly took the vial from the medi-witch. 

 

"How is Harry, Poppy?" Minerva asked before Severus could think of asking himself.

 

"He broke several ribs and had a punctured lung. I've put him a healing sleep until the ribs set some. He'll be awake in three days time."

 

With that reassurance Severus downed the sleeping potion as quickly as possible. His last memory before the potion took effect was Minerva leaning close to his ear and asking what business he had in Surrey. Severus succumbed to the darkness and new nothing more.

 

It was late when Severus woke up and a candle on the table next to his bed softly lit his section of the room. Severus gingerly sat up and was surprised to find that the restraints weren't used. Heaving a sigh of relief he looked around and saw Minerva sitting in a chair between his and Harry's beds. The witch was busy with something and he couldn't clearly see what she was doing. He looked over to see Harry sleeping not so peacefully on the other side of Minerva. The young wizard whimper in his induced sleep and Minerva got up to sooth her young charge. When she sat back down, Minerva glanced in Severus' direction and smiled when she noticed he was awake. In her lap she held knitting needles and yarn. Severus' eyebrows rose in surprise at the sight and then they rose more at the blush that graced his colleague's face.

 

"How are you feeling, Severus?" Minerva asked, while recovering her composure.

 

"I'm fine. How's Harry doing?"

 

"He's been having nightmares. What ever they are, they're strong enough to get through the sleeping potion Poppy gave him. Other than that he's healing well."

 

"They could be from the Dark Lord. Since he's unconscious he can't defend himself from the visions the Dark Lord sends or those Harry inadvertently sees through the Dark Lord's eyes." Severus said, his voice dripping with concern and worry.

 

"It'll be alright, Severus. Did he have many while you two were in the globe?"

 

"He didn't have any nightmares at all, not even normal ones." Severus looked over at Harry again and stared at him for several moments before the clicking of knitting needles caught his attention. "I never thought you'd be the domestic type, Minerva."

 

"There are times when busy hands are needed so the mind can work away, Severus. Besides I need baby gifts from time to time for my nieces and nephews."

 

"Which one of your numerous relations is spawning this time?"

 

"This isn't for one of my relatives; it's for your quarters."

 

Severus' eyes opened in surprise and he eyed Minerva as if she was insane. Minerva just smiled and went back to her knitting. The dim light prevented him from making out what colours she was using. Severus wondered why, after so many years of trying to foist things like this on him and being rejected, she trying once again. He could see the mischief in her eyes and finally he gave in and asked the question she wanted him to.

 

"Alright, I'll give. Why are you knitting blankets for my quarters?"

 

"Well, Severus, if your going to be sneaking Harry down stairs then you'll need something to help keep him warm. He's not used to extended stays in your drafty dungeons." Minerva had the gall to smirk at him and Severus took a quick glance around to make sure they were alone. "Don't worry, Severus. I've placed silencing charms around the beds and proximity charms on the wing doors."

 

"That's a relief." Severus laid back into his pillows with a sigh.

 

"Now, Severus, I've two questions for you. Why did you call Harry by his surname in front of Molly?"

 

"Molly would have told Albus and then the rest of the world that I called him Harry. I'd like to keep the old man in the dark for as long as possible."

 

"That I can understand and I'll help all that I can. Now that's settled, what about the business you claimed to have in Surrey?"

 

"Has Harry told you anything about his home life when he started confiding in you?"

 

"No he hasn't. I've tried, though."

 

"Well to start off, they kept him in the broom closet under their staircase for almost eleven years. They only touched him when they had to. They've heaped all kinds of verbal abuse on him. The lack of touch bothers me the most. Even I had that from both my parents at one point. Hell, Minerva, I had that from my mother after my father decided I wasn't worth his time! His cousin hunted him like a deer or fox with his gang of friends. Have you noticed his clothes?"

 

"Yes and he wouldn't let me ask him about them. The moment I tried he made his excuses and ran."

 

"The tent like clothes he wears is the threadbare hand-me-downs his cousin once wore. Those few clothes he has that fit are Mr. Weasley's cast offs, jumpers knitted by Molly and a few items Ms. Granger purchased for him."

 

"His parents left him a tidy sum of money. Why didn't he buy himself clothing?"

 

"I asked him the same thing and his reasoning was sound. One, he didn't know there were other vaults waiting for him to come of age, nor did he know that his tuition was already paid for. He didn't want to waste money and risk not finishing school. Second, if he came home with new clothes his uncle would have demanded to know where the money came from or suspect the vaults existed and try to seize the money."

 

"Pompous twit! Hagrid said the man was a miser."

 

"The year Harry and Weasley flew Arthur's charmed car here in broad daylight, those Muggles locked him in his room and barred the windows. The Weasleys went to break him out. The Muggles also half starved him during that time. The summer of his third year he ran away after his 'Aunt' Marge was heaping the verbal abuse on him and started slandering his parents, which you know is a touchy subject for him. The behaved during his 4th and 5th years because Harry threatened them with hi 'convicted killer' godfather. The summer before his 6th year Moody, Tonks, Lupin and Arthur threatened them into treating him better." Severus' finished his shortened tale of Harry's life and he could see the anger in Minerva's eyes.

 

"I hope you don't mind some company on your business trip. I told Albus they were the worse kind of Muggles imaginable. Their boy was a slug back then."

 

"Harry describes him as a slightly trim whale."

 

"Stop by my office for tea tomorrow and we'll discuss this further."

 

"I'll be there," Severus said with a feral grin on face.

 

"Now, why don't you get some more sleep, Severus? Molly will be here in the morning to sit with Harry."

 

"Good night, Minerva."

 

Severus drifted back to sleep, but unlike his time in the globe, he didn't have pleasant dreams. His dreams alternated between the horrors he committed in his early days as a Death Eater to horrors befalling Harry at the hands of the Dark Lord. He awoke sometime during the latter half of the morning to find Molly in the chair Minerva sat in the night before and Albus standing at the foot of the bed. Severus shot the old man a nasty look as he sat up in the bed. The moment he did so, Poppy bustled in and did a complete scan.

 

"You're free to go when you're ready, Severus." Poppy told him before she moved to check on Harry's progress. "Harry will definitely be up and about by the third day, Albus." Albus nodded a thank you to Poppy and turned his attention to Severus.

 

Severus was easing himself out of the bed when he felt the glares of both Molly and Albus on his back. He ignored them as he gathered his clothes from the cabinet next to his hospital bed. He straightened up and returned their glares with his defensive mask plastered on his face.

 

"Is there any reason why both you and Harry were hexing each other?" Albus asked, with an unusually stern look on his face.

 

"It's called dueling lessons, perhaps you've heard of them." Severus snapped at the Headmaster. "Is there any reason why you left us on the Quidditch Pitch to freeze? You left us with no supplies, other than food. There were no books, no emergency medical supplies, and no additional blankets. Damn it, Albus, you charmed the only bed you provided to disappear when both of us wasn't in the room!" Severus worked up to a roar and continued to shout in Albus' face. "Once you tossed us out on the pitch we had no way to communicate. That 'little storm' yesterday almost killed your golden boy. If I didn't notice I still had Fawkes' feather the boy may have died."

 

During his rant at Albus he felt Molly's glare relocate to the Headmaster. Internally Severus danced in glee. He managed to avoid the legendary Molly rant. That he actually began to enjoy his time with Harry was one fact he had no intention of letting the old fool find out about.

 

"Albus, you didn't?" Molly exclaimed in disbelief. "You know he has horrible nightmares!"

 

Albus didn't have time to defend himself as she rounded into him once again. Severus smirked at Albus' hen pecked form and retreated to the bathroom to change. He heard Albus flee with Molly right behind him through the closed door. Severus quickly changed into his robes while making a mental note to tell Minerva what happened. Before he left the wing for breakfast he took a quick glance around the wing and headed to Harry's bed. Severus stroked the younger man's cheek as he watched Harry sleep. He bent over to press a light kiss to Harry's lips before leaving.

 

Severus made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast and had the room to himself. Being late for breakfast had its advantages. Severus enjoyed a leisurely breakfast as he thought of ways to get back at Albus and punish the Dursleys. Since no one was in the Hall with him he allowed himself to smile as wonderful visions of torture danced in his head. By the time he finished watching the vision of transfiguring the Dursleys into mice and having Minerva chase them until they had heart attacks, his plate was empty. Chuckling to himself he headed straight to his lab and began the huge list of potion requirements for the Hospital Wing. He worked steadily through the remainder of the morning and when it was time for lunch opted to eat in his office while his potions simmered.

 

As he ate he marked papers and let his mind wander over the events of the past two weeks. He was surprised at the impact a certain pair of green eyes had on his life. 'Would I change what happened?' He asked himself and looked deeper into himself for the answer. He hadn't done that since he changed sides during the Dark Lord's first attempts to take over. 'No, I wouldn't change anything. I may actually survive this war. I actually want to.' He thought to himself and felt a calm that hasn't been present in a very long time. Just as he finished his soul searching the timers for the simmering potions went off and he left his office to finish them off. When he felt he did enough for the afternoon it was almost time to meet with Minerva.

 

Tea with Minerva was as regular an occurrence as Albus offering lemon drops. Normally the two met in the staff lounge instead of her office. It wouldn't do for Severus to ruin his reputation amongst the staff and the world at large. In the staff room he and Minerva played pass the barb and generally made rude comments to each other, though not in the way the rest of the staff thought. Since they were plotting against Albus they would meet in Minerva's office. Severus slunk through the shadows on his way to Minerva's second floor office and took the opportunity to terrorize the few students remaining as he made his way through the halls. 

 

Once he arrived at her office the hallways were cleared as news of his presence flew through the building. He knocked on the office door, which immediately swung open and allowed him entrance. Minerva's office was quite cheerful and surprisingly not plastered in Gryffindor colors. The only sign that she was head of Gryffindor House was the small plaque over the fireplace with house symbol. Each time Severus visited Minerva's office over the years he noticed something different. As he sat in the seat she offered him he glanced around the room taking note of those items that were no longer there and the additions that took their places.

 

"How was your day, Severus?" Minerva ended his examination of her domain.

 

"It was pleasant, Minerva. I had a wonderful time imagining horrid things to do to Albus and the Muggles and I was able to terrorize some students to boot."

 

Minerva laughed and cocked her head in an invitation to elaborate, which he accepted.

 

"The top of my list was to use the Cruciatus Curse on the Muggles until they couldn't remember their names and then blame the whole thing on the Dark Lord, and then I remembered those now inconvenient wards."

 

"Yes, they'd make that idea to risky, tempting, but risky."

 

"Then I though we could tamper with the Weasley twins' prank candy, send it via Muggle Post and hope they explode."

 

"They may be wary of candy they didn't purchase themselves. I remember Molly telling me the twins used Harry's cousin as a guinea pig for one of their candies."

 

"That's too bad; Dursley and his whale of a boy deserve to be bitten by their food. How about this…" Severus proceeded to tell Minerva every little scheme his overly happy brain dug up during breakfast and had the older witch almost rolling on the floor with laughter when he retold the vision of her chasing three mice around. 

 

"I haven't figured out anything to do to Albus that he wouldn't enjoy. The man is impossible." Severus returned to looking about the room again and his eyes settled on an object on the mantle. He rose to his feet to take a closer look at the object while he waited for Minerva to think about the Albus situation a bit.

 

"Right now I think he'd be expecting you or Harry, either one at a time or together, to do something to him immediately while the situation is fresh in your minds. Perhaps if you make a threat out loud around some of the more gossipy portraits you can keep him on his toes then hit him a month or so later. He wouldn't expect that."

 

"Revenge is a dish best served cold." Severus smirked at Minerva and looked back at the object that caught his attention. Minerva noticed and smiled.

 

"I've had that for ages. My brother made me several like that since I always told my siblings that I wanted to move to a desert island so I could be alone. So every year my brother gave me two of them. One for my birthday and one for Christmas; it ended up being the family joke."

 

"You have more than one of these?" Severus asked as he eyed the thing closely. 

 

It was a snow globe, but instead of snow falling on the scene there was nothing but sun. Half the globe was filled with water and an island was situated in the middle of the globe. The island had several palm trees with coconuts and a grass hut located in the center of the island. Severus looked over at Minerva with an evil grin on his face. Minerva looked at him with a puzzled expression for a few moments before she caught on. The moment she did a matching smile appeared on her face. Minerva pickup up the globe and the two of them quickly made there way out of her office.


	14. Chapter 14

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 14  
By Corgi**

_Harry opened his eyes to find himself in an unexpected place. Cold marble white floors graced the room he found himself in. The walls were papered in brocaded silk with gold embroidery. The room was dimly lit and looked very familiar to Harry. He knew it wasn't the room from the globe or any other room in Hogwarts. He must be having a vision. He glanced up and noticed his was in his own body and it wasn't solid one, but a misty one. He moved slowly to through the room as he tried to empty his mind and erect the barriers that would keep Voldemort out._

_Harry moved through the house slowly and carefully through the shadows of the manor, it had to be a manor with furniture like this, he found himself in. He didn't know if Voldemort or Nagini could see him in this ethereal form and didn't want to take any chances. A woman's scream echoed through the building. He did his best to remain cautious as he hurriedly followed the screams to their source. He did manage to find the source and it answered his question to why the building was so familiar. In the center of a lavish sitting room was Narcissa Malfoy and she was surrounded by her husband, the Dark Lord and several other Death Eater's Harry didn't recognize. The were taking turns torturing the woman who was doing her best to contain the screams of agony ripping through her. Behind the barriers Severus painstakingly taught him to erect, Harry was seething. The brief time he spent with Draco and his mom made him think of the two as Aunt and cousin. They were so totally different from what they show to the public at large and he took the woman's torture personally, just like he would if it was Mrs. Weasley. He frantically searched his mind for a way to help her and found he couldn't do anything, but watch helplessly as she was tortured._

_"You will write to your son and order him home." Voldemort hissed at the pale blonde woman sprawled on the floor._

_"No, I will not!" Mrs. Malfoy calmly replied and Harry ad to admire the way she managed to look down her nose at the deformed man despite being sprawled gracelessly on the floor._

_"Crucio!" Harry seethed at his impotence as he watched the woman he was just getting to know scream as the curse ripped through her._

_"Draco will return and do his duty to his bloodline! He will not dishonour the Malfoy name!" Lucius Malfoy was almost foaming at the mouth in his rage. Harry guessed that Draco was avoiding his mail or getting someone to screen it for port keys._

_"Too late, Lucius! You and your father did it years ago when you join this fool in his madness!" Mrs. Malfoy responded with a sneer. Harry was impressed she must have learned it from Severus over the years._

_"He is my son and he will do as I wish! You can not keep him away from me Narcissa!" Lucius kicked his wife in the ribs and the force of the impact flipped her onto her side._

_Harry was nearly in tears as he saw the extent of the injuries on her face and neck. What he saw next shocked him. Narcissa looked up and did a double take. She subtly looked around and mouthed 'Harry' and Harry was too stunned to do more than nod his head. He watched the Death Eaters around her carefully in case they or Voldemort sensed his presence. At the moment they all seemed to have lost interest in torturing Mrs. Malfoy. He turned his attention back to the battered woman and saw her mouth 'How?'_

_"I thought it was a vision at first," Harry whispered as quietly as he could, "but it may be I was thinking about you when Riddle started hurting you." Mrs. Malfoy seemed to accept that answer before smiling a wicked smile and mouthing 'pay attention'._

_Harry looked around and realized that he had moved closer to Mrs. Malfoy in order to talk to her. The Death Eaters and Voldemort turned their attention back to the battered witch and Harry slowly stepped back. He still didn't know if Voldemort could sense his presence in the room and Harry didn't want to take any chances. He was just grateful that he didn't feel his scar burning in form._

_"You've had time to think, foolish girl." Voldemort hissed, watching the prone woman with narrow eyes._

_"My answer is still no."_

_"Then you shall pay the price! You can not interfere with a father's right to rule is offspring." Voldemort was aiming his wand at Mrs. Malfoy preparing to use the Cruciatus curse on her again when he stopped and looked at the smug smile on her face.  
"I'll wipe that smile off your face, woman."_

_"Oh, let me wipe yours off first. Lucius has no son. He legally signed away custody in August. Draco can't be touched by him."_

_Silence reigned in the room while Lucius struggled to remember what he signed over the summer that could be the document his wife was bragging about._

_"I signed no such document, Narcissa." Lucius' cold grey eyes glared at his wife, whose expression was positively gleeful, trying to figure out what her game was._

_Harry took the opportunity to move around the group of men so he could position himself behind Malfoy. That way he could hear Mrs. Malfoy better and note any signals she may have for him._

_"Really, Lucius, did you think that after being arrested as a Death Eater the school board would invite you back? You truly are a vain fool, Lucius. Those papers you brought to Dumbledore and McGonagall to sign were the papers. You had to sign it too and I had already signed it and hid the signature. Severus is Draco's legal guardian and you know he isn't going to hand Draco over. I've put in precautions and a list of alternate guardians in case something happened to Severus. There's no way to undo it."_

_"You still have to have a Ministry Official sign after three months of custody, Narcissa. I've got the Ministry in my pocket."_

_"Not all of them. It doesn't matter what department they're from and there are people who can't be bought." Harry knew immediately that she was referring to Mr. Weasley and he got her attention and gave her thumbs up indicating he understood. Harry guessed that she hid the document in his trunk. Draco's would have been too obvious since Lucius didn't know he stayed the summer with his wife and son._

_"We'll kill her in the morning and have the Slytherin dorms searched by the other remaining Slytherins. We'll send her body to the school as a warning to your wayward son."_

_Voldemort turned on his heel and left the room, leaving the others to lock Narcissa up for the night. Harry felt himself being pulled from the vision as Voldemort left. His mind was racing for a way to rescue Draco's mother without risking the lives of Order members._

 

Harry opened his eyes to find himself in the hospital wing. He grabbed his glasses and looked at the ceiling and could tell by the cracks in the ceiling above him that he was in his usual bed in the infirmary. Harry noticed sharp pains in his chest and tried to remember what happened to him. The last thing he remembered was sitting on the loveseat in the globe, resting against Severus' chest while he prepared to call Fawkes. He recalled the sensation of the room tilting then nothing. Harry heard what sounded like a snore and turned his head in the direction of the sound. Sitting on the chair next to his bed was Draco Malfoy. Harry tried to sit up in bed and as he did so he let out a small gasp of pain. Draco leapt off his chair and looked at Harry with startled eyes.

 

"You shouldn't be awake!" Draco told him. The expression of the other boy's face was comical but Harry couldn't laugh.

 

"Well I am and it's courtesy of Voldemort." An idea suddenly popped into Harry's head. "Draco, do you by any chance know how to make a port key."

 

"Yeah, my dad taught me a couple of years ago. Why?"

 

"Voldemort's going to kill your mum, but I've got an idea to save her. The timing's going to be tight though. Dobby!"

 

A pop echoed through the wing as the house-elf arrived. Dobby stood and the foot of Harry's bed and stared at Draco with wide eyes for several long moments. When Harry cleared his throat Dobby turned his attention to Harry. Seeing the serious look on Harry's face the elf, for the first time in anyone's memory, stood still and quiet while he waited to hear what Harry needed.

 

"Dobby, I need your help. I need you to go to the owlery and tell Hedwig I need here, and then bring my trunk from my dorm, please." Dobby nodded wildly and disappeared with a pop. 

 

A few moments after Dobby left, Hedwig tapped on one of the windows in the Hospital wing. Draco let her in and she landed on the headboard of Harry's bed. Soon enough Dobby returned with Harry's trunk and waited patiently to see if Harry needed something else. First thing Harry did was locate and item Mrs. Malfoy helped him pick out for Mrs. Weasley. Then he snagged a piece of parchment and a self-inking quill and wrote a note to Mr. Weasley requesting his presence at the school.

 

"Here Draco, if you can turn that into a port key for the Hospital wing we'll wrap it and send it to your mum." Draco nodded and began to work. Harry was thankful that Draco was quick on the uptake and didn't insist on explanations. Harry then turned back to Dobby handing the elf the note to Mr. Weasley. "Dobby, this needs to get to Mr. Weasley immediately. He's the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department at the Ministry. You won't have a problem delivering this, will you?"

 

"No, Harry Potter! Dobby is always delivering messages at the Ministry for Dobby's former master. Dobby will deliver letter for Harry Potter. Can Dobby do more for Harry Potter?"

 

"Yes, please. After you deliver that note, please find Professors Snape and McGonagall. I need to see them as soon as possible. Alright?"

 

"Dobby will do." With another pop of displaced air, Dobby left to carry out his tasks.

 

"This is all set Harry." Draco handed the necklace turned port key to Harry and he watched as Harry wrapped the present in Christmas paper, then plain brown paper, and then addressing the brown paper to his mother.

 

"Hedwig, please deliver this to Draco's mum. Be very careful girl. There's going to be Death Eaters there and they'll have no qualms taking pot shots at you. Do your best, okay girl." Hedwig nodded her head and took the package after giving reassuring nips to both Harry and Draco. She flew out into the darkness and the boys watched her until her form was nothing more than a speck as she flew towards Malfoy Manor.

 

Harry turned to search through his trunk looking for legal document that Mrs. Malfoy in his belongings. Harry felt Draco's gaze on him and knew the other teen was waiting for Harry to finish digging through his belongings before bombarding Harry with questions. Harry didn't expect the blond to have so much patience, or more likely Draco suspected that Harry's tasks were too important to interrupt his classmate. Harry gave a whoop of triumph as he found the document hidden in the potions book Professor McGonagall gave him while he was waiting for his owls.

 

"Are you going to tell me what's going on now?" Draco asked with a hint of a teasing whine in his voice.

 

"Yes I am pest. I had a vision and unlike the ones I told you about over the summer, I wasn't seeing through Voldemort's eyes. I was outside and saw them torturing your mum. They wanted to force her to write and tell you to come home. I take it you have someone checking your mail?" At Draco's affirmative Harry continued on. "Well you're dad and Voldemort are ticked off that you haven't arrived and started in on your mother. When the two of them started gloating, your mother wiped the smiles right off their faces. Over the summer she tricked your father into signing custody of you over to Professor Snape."

 

A huge grin graced Draco's face and Harry guessed that being Severus' charge was more than acceptable to Draco. Confusion took over as Draco remembered the other requests Harry made.

 

"So why do we need Weasley here?" Draco asked with frown of distaste.

 

"The document your parents signed needs to be signed by a Ministry official by the end of three months. Mr. Weasley is a Ministry Department Head and most importantly he isn't someone your father's paid off. If Mr. Weasley can't sign it he'll know who else isn't in your father's pocket and can sign it."

 

"Okay, so what else?"

 

"We sit and wait for everyone else to arrive and hope your mum's allowed to open her gift. She should recognize the necklace since she helped pick it out. Hopefully she'll be able to touch it."

 

"Why would they bother letting her if they're going to kill her?" 

 

"Because it's cruel and they love to drag out the torture. Aren't you glad you passed up their offer?" 

 

Before Draco could answer Harry's less than humourous response, a loud pop sounded next to the bed and Dobby appeared with an anxious expression on his face. 

 

"Dobby could not find Professors McGonagall and Snape, Harry Potter. Can Dobby do anything else for Harry Potter?"

 

"Yes you can, Dobby. I need you to wait for the Professors to return." Harry turned his thoughts inward before Dobby could leave and started to talk to himself out loud. "How could she see me if no one else knew I was there?" He mused to himself and nearly fell out of the bed when Dobby answered him.

 

"Mistress Narcissa has always seen things others could not!" Dobby declared into the room before giving a quick bow and popping out of the room.

 

"Now that was different. How is it our family's former house elf is here?" Draco finally got around to asking.

 

"Oh, I guess your father didn't tell you and your mum why Dobby didn't return with him after our second year?" Draco shook his head and Harry smirked at him. "I tricked your father into giving Dobby one of my socks after I rescued Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets. He wasn't very happy about it. He was more so when Dobby sent him flying down the stairs when he tried to curse me." 

 

Draco's only response was a sly grin, which rapidly became laughter as the humour of his father's situation, grew clearer.

 

"Mother would have had a wonderful time rubbing that in his face. You should have seen her when ripped into him for being sent too jail by six half trained teenagers. It was too funny. I just wish I was on the receiving end of those curses you and your friends hit me with the past two years."

 

"You shouldn't have been such a good actor. You had us all convinced you were a clone of your father. I'm going to get some rest. Wake me when Mr. Weasley or the Professors get here, please."

 

Draco gave him a mocking bow and a nod before settling back in the chair with the book he was reading when Harry woke up. Harry put his glasses on the nightstand and did the meditation exercises Severus taught him last week, to clear his mind. Once that was done Harry allowed himself to drift off to sleep. His last conscious thought was 'how did I end up in the hospital wing this time?' He slept dreamlessly for a change and was brought back to waking world by Draco's insistent shaking. Harry opened his bleary eyes to see a white topped blob, one topped in red, anther in black and a shorter one in brown. Harry reached over to the night stand and put on his glasses. As soon as he did the blobs resolved themselves into Draco, Mr. Weasley, Severus and Professor McGonagall.

 

"What do you need us for, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked in his best 'you’re a waste of my time' voice.

 

"Mr. Weasley, can you sign this and if you can't do you know of someone who can that isn't paid off by Malfoy?" Harry asked the red-headed patriarch of Weasley family, as he handed over the document that was hidden in his belongings.

 

"Yes, I can sign this, any employee at the Ministry can do so," Mr. Weasley replied as he read the document. "Severus, you'll need to sign this too."

 

"Why would I have to sign, Arthur?" 

 

"These are custody papers. If you don't sign then Lucius Malfoy regains control of Draco. I don't think you or Narcissa wish that to happen." Arthur replied with a grim look. "Harry, how did you end up with this document?"

 

"Mrs. Malfoy hid it in my trunk."

 

"How did she get it in your trunk?" Arthur asked with alarm evident in his voice.

 

"Harry spent the summer with my mother and me." Draco replied to the question directed at Harry.

 

"Harry…" Arthur started in a serious tone before Harry interrupted him.

 

"Mr. Weasley, it's a long story and I don't want to go through the whole thing again right now."

 

Arthur and Severus both signed the papers, which immediately duplicated itself until there were four copies. Two copies transported themselves to the Ministry, one to the Malfoy residence and the last stayed behind for Severus' records. Mrs. Malfoy obviously got her hands on some of the Ministry's spelled parchment. Harry was thankful that the spells on those parchments made them tamper proof and indestructible. Now all he had to worry about was his relationship with Severus and the fates of Draco's mum and Hedwig. Harry could tell it was just after dinner when his stomach growled. Madam Pomfrey materialized, as if summoned by his stomach, and she began shooing his company out of the infirmary. Everyone else wasn't cooperating and stayed put.

 

"Why did you people wake Mr. Potter up?" Poppy was enraged and working up to a roar.

 

"It's hard to sleep when Voldemort's in a mood for torture and you've got front row seats to the show." Harry said with dry sarcasm and watched with a smirk as everyone in the room flinched at the Voldemort's name.

 

"What did you see, Harry?" Minerva asked, worry was etched in her features. Normally Harry woke from those visions with information about an attack.

 

"The vision had nothing of use to the Order. Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy and a small group of unknown Death Eaters were torturing Mrs. Malfoy. They wanted her to call Draco home for the holiday and she refuse." Harry shot a glance at Draco and noticed all his defenses were up. "Odd thing about this vision was I wasn't seeing things from Voldemort's point of view, but I was outside of him like those visions I had before his rebirth. The other odd thing was the Mrs. Malfoy could see me, but no one else could. When she saw me was when she mentioned the custody documents. I figured that she must have hid them in my belongings because Draco's would be too obvious and sending it to the school by owl was too risky."

"Narcissa has always been able to see people's spirit manifestations and recently departed souls on their journey to the afterlife. Muggles would call her a medium." Severus informed the group.

 

"That makes some sense out of Dobby's statement earlier. Now I just hope Hedwig makes it there and back alright."

 

"Where did you send your owl, Mr. Potter?" Minerva gave Harry an alarmed glance.

 

"Harry sent his owl with a port key disguised as a gift from me to my mother," Draco said sadly. He knew the odds of rescuing his mother were slim. 

 

"Draco, why didn't you send Eb…" Severus started, but was interrupted by Minerva.

 

"Severus, don't." Minerva shot a sad look at Severus, which Harry noticed and knew what had happened to Draco's eagle owl.

 

Severus and Harry both began cursing Lucius and company. The others in the room watched with wide eyes and horrified expressions as the two raged on. The cursing became increasingly colorful as they continued.

 

"Harry and Severus, watch your language!" Minerva finally recovered her wits enough to scold the two. "Harry, where did you learn such language?"

 

"Around," Harry replied with a quick glance at Severus, who gave a small smirk in reply. "Anyway, how did I end up in the Hospital Wing this time?"

 

"We had a blizzard, Harry, and the snow globe was knocked off the bleachers. Fawkes had to carry the whole globe back here. Minerva, Molly and I bullied Albus into getting you two out." Poppy told him and Harry could tell by the look on her face that he was hurt badly.

 

"When the globe fell all the furniture in the room landed on us," was Severus' contribution.

 

"Ah, that's why I feel like I was trampled by a hippogriff."

 

"Yes, you have several healing ribs right now and had a punctured lung. Severus ended up with a broken leg. Now drink this. It'll make your ribs heal faster. The muscles will still be sore though."

 

"Let me guess, skelegrow?" Harry downed the potion quickly so he couldn't taste it. "I'm going to get some more sleep. Would someone wake me when Hedwig returns? Thanks everyone."

 

While Harry attempted to go back to sleep, Madam Pomfrey shooed everyone out of the wing, except Draco who refused since his mother's destination, if she gets the port key, was the Hospital Wing. The last thing Harry heard was Madam Pomfrey settling Draco into a bed. As he drifted off to sleep her remembered he didn't get anything to eat, but he was too tired to care at that point.

 

Harry was awoken by a loud thud and the pain filled screeches of an owl. Harry slipped out of the bed carefully and moved his privacy curtain aside and entered the main part of the wing. The scene before him was chaotic. Mrs. Malfoy was sprawled on the floor hold Hedwig tightly. Hedwig was shrieking loudly in pain and Mrs. Malfoy was arguing with Pomfrey.

 

"Let go of the owl so I can treat your wounds." Pomfrey was getting annoyed at the stubborn blond in front of her.

 

"Treat the owl first. If I let go she'll bleed to death." Mrs. Malfoy shouted at Madam Pomfrey.

 

Before Madam Pomfrey could say more the wing doors slammed open and Severus burst through followed by a lumbering Hagrid. Draco was trailing behind them Severus went straight to Hedwig and pulled several healing potions out of his pocket. Hagrid placed a hand on Harry's should and gave a light, by Hagrid's standards, squeeze. Severus poured one potion directly onto Hedwig's wing after Mrs. Malfoy told him where she was hurt. The potion soaked the wing and Mrs. Malfoy's hands until it the bird's feathers were matted together with moisture. Severus then pried the bird's mouth open and poured another down her throat. Hagrid left his side and made his way to Severus' side as the other man removed the snowy owl from Mrs. Malfoy's arms. Harry got a glimpse of his owl's wing and it was a blackened as if someone set her on fire. Hagrid took her from Severus and the latter administered a sleeping potion to the bird. Hagrid wrapped Hedwig in a blanket as the potion took affect.

 

"Don't worry, Harry, she'll be right as rain in no time." Hagrid called out to him as he turned to return to his hut by the forest.

 

Harry gave the half giant a small smile, but the giant's reassurances didn't help much. He didn't like the way her wing looked and Harry was afraid she wouldn't be able to fly again. 'Better having her unable to fly than to lose her,' he thought to himself as he turned his attention back to Mrs. Malfoy. When he looked back up Mrs. Malfoy was now behind on of the curtained off beds and Draco was probably by her side. 

 

"You shouldn't be out of bed," Severus' voice whispered in Harry's ear, causing the younger man to jump in surprise. "I don't want to be on the receiving end of Poppy's wrath if she finds you out of bed." Severus scooped Harry into his arms with a chuckle that sent shivers down the younger wizard's spine and carried him back to his bed.

 

"I can walk on my own!" 

 

"Would you deny me an excuse to get my hands on you with out causing suspicion or alerting the meddling old fool that something is going on?" Severus purred as he set the green-eyed wizard on the bed. Harry gave a small laugh and a grin, which quickly faded as worry lines appeared on his face. "Hedwig will be alright, Harry."

 

"Will she be able to fly again?" Harry asked softly. Severus knew right then that Harry blamed himself for the bird's condition even though they had no idea how the owl was hurt.

 

"I don't know. It's Hagrid's area of expertise, not mine. I'm sure he'll be up to tell you later how's she's doing. She'll live and that's the only thing I’m sure of." Harry gave a shuddering sigh and Severus gathered the smaller man into his arms. He held the Harry as the young wizard worked his way through the shock of nearly losing his familiar.

A ball of fire appeared over the bed and Fawkes materialized and flew a quick circle around the bed. The phoenix landed on the footboard of the bed and watched quietly as Severus held Harry. Severus glanced over at the phoenix with a questioning look in his eyes.

**Is the cub alright, Severus?**

**He's fine, Fawkes. He's just reacting to the close call his owl had today.**

**Winter will be down in the morning to question the woman. He's very suspicious of her, Shade. Do we have any reason to worry about her?**

**No, Fawkes. Her change of allegiance has surprised me, but I don't think she expected to survive her defection. Her main concern was her son. She tricked Lucius into signing away custody. I just signed it and Arthur verified the document."**

**Really? Now that is a surprise. Void is usually more cautious than that.** Fawkes' mental laughter rang through Severus' head as the phoenix trilled with laughter vocally.

 

Severus noticed Harry looking around wide eyed as if searching for someone. Severus chuckled as he held Harry tighter, while the boy searched for the unseen speaker. Harry stopped and looked at Severus and relaxed when he noticed the older wizard's calm.

 

"Who's talking?"

 

"You're hearing Fawkes' telepathy."

 

"Oh, who's Shade then?"

 

"I'm Shade. Fawkes has this annoying habit of giving people descriptive names. He says he doesn't like our given names because they don't suit us. Winter is Albus, Sharpclaw is Minerva, Poppy is called Flower, and he's recently dubbed Molly Weasley as Firecat."

 

"Well that fits Mrs. Weasley, though I usually describe her as a saber-tooth tiger." Harry replied with a snicker. "I would guess that the Void he mentioned was Draco's father?"

 

"Yes, that's the most spot on description of Lucius I've ever heard. Right now Fawkes refers to you as the cub. Why? I haven't a clue."

 

**I'm still waiting to see what his animagus form is. After all it's a family tradition to have a nickname based on their animagus form. Isn't that right cub?**

 

"You knew about that?"

 

**Yes, I knew when they started trying to do the shift. I kept an eye on them just incase something went wrong. Besides I don't tell Winter everything.**

 

"I'll have to make a guess that Fawkes is talking about your father and his friends?" Severus asked with a sour look on his face.

 

"Yeah, I'll assume that you know that Professor Lupin was Moony and I know you knew that Sirius was Padfoot. Dad was Prongs and Pettigrew was Wormtail."

 

"I know the traitor is a rat animagus, but what was your father?"

 

"He was a stag. You've seen my Patronus, right? Severus gave Harry a nod. "That's my dad's animagus form."

 

"So what are you, brat?"

 

"We don't know yet. I started my Animagus studies with Professor McGonagall three weeks before the holidays. All I've managed is to sprout black hair everywhere."

 

**It was more than your father and his friends could do after two years attempting to do so.**

 

"It's probably because I have help learning the transformation. They all taught themselves for the most part." Harry gave the former spy a speculative look and a small smile graced his face. "Have you ever tried to become an Animagus, Severus?"

 

"No, with my luck I'd have been a vulture. Black would have had a field day if that was the case." Severus looked over at Harry and noticed the sad look the mere mention of his godfather brought to the young wizards face. He decided to change the subject. "Madam Pomfrey is going to let you go in the morning. Since Albus is there I want us to put on a little show. I'm going to 'remind' you of a detention I handed you when we landed in the globe. We're going behave as if nothing has changed between us." Severus noticed his change of topic successfully distracted the younger man.

 

"That'll probably cause us more trouble with the old man," Harry said with a grin.

 

**Winter will not be happy with the resumption of hostilities between the too of you. Then again he deserves it. Putting the globe on the pitch was reckless.**

 

"Why did he put us on the pitch anyway?" Harry asked, looking bewildered at the Headmaster's antics.

 

**Winter thought you two were fighting when he saw hexes being fired on the globe's grounds. He became very angry and put the globe outside to punish you two. I don't think it occurred to him how cold it is outside on the pitch. I didn't know he didn't give you cold weather supplies when he put you out there.**

 

"I did inform the old man when he and Molly tried to rake me over the coals that I was giving you dueling lessons, Harry. You should have seen him flee for his life when Molly found out what he did."

 

**It was very amusing, cub. Firecat had Winter cornered in his office for two hours. If I didn't know she had so many kittens, I would have been amazed at how long she could yell.**

 

"Well she probably developed that skill because of Fred and George. They cause chaos were ever they go." Harry smiled at the thought of his two friends driving their mother crazy at home.

 

"I'm surprised they didn't get caught more often. I'm still wondering how they kept getting into the Slytherin dorms. It's not like they have a map of the school like Harry does." 

 

"Not quite right, Severus. I got the map from Fred and George during my third year. They found it in Filch's filing cabinet during an altercation with him."

 

**Mayhem and Havoc has certainly kept the school on its toes since they arrived. It is too bad they didn't take their N.E.W.T.s. I would have liked to see if they could be serious enough to garner any.**

 

"They probably would have pulled pranks on the proctors during the exams instead of actually taking them." Severus said with a dry tone.

 

"Most likely that or they would be torturing Umbridge instead of showing up for the exams." Harry looked at the phoenix and smirked. "So Fawkes, who's Mayhem and who's Havoc."

 

**Firecat's twins.**

 

"No, that's not what I asked. Which twin is Mayhem and which twin is Havoc?" Harry said with mischief sparkling in his eyes. 

 

Fawkes stared at Harry with what could only be described as a disgruntled expression. Harry laughed at the bird's obvious annoyance. Severus chuckled and looked at the bird expectantly. After several moments the bird gave up and answered the question, but with ill grace.

 

**You win, cub. Mayhem is Fred and Havoc is George.** Fawkes has what could only be described as a wicked look in his eyes as he tried to turn the tables on Harry. **So do you know who is who?**

 

"Of course I do. They're practically my brothers. Fred is slightly taller than George and George has a small scar on his right eyebrow." Harry gave Fawkes a triumphant grin.

 

**Maybe I'll call you pest instead of waiting. Winter is sending members of my army here to guard the sleeping woman.**

 

"You're army? My your more arrogant than any Malfoy even was."

 

**It's called the Order of the Phoenix, is that right? I'm the Order's mascot, therefore it's my army.** Fawkes' mental voice was smug as he recited his logic.

 

"I'm not sure I follow that logic, though if the Ministry has a fit it'll work as a distraction, I guess." Harry looked at Severus with amusement in his eyes.

 

"It may, but knowing Fudge he'll take it the wrong way and try to imprison the bird in Azkaban for treason." Three voices rang out in laughter, two human and one avian, and if anyone walked in they'd expire on the spot seeing the feared Potions Master laughing with his least favourite student and a scarlet and gold bird.

 

**You'd best enjoy your time together now, Shade. The guards aren't going to let anyone in or out of the wing, except Winter. I'll warn you when the first watch arrives.**

 

"Thank you, Fawkes." Severus said to the phoenix as it took off and circled the bed once more, this time grabbing the privacy curtain and drawing it around the bed. Severus, with a couple of flicks of his wand, warded the room for privacy. "Now, what can I do to you in the time we have that won't get me killed by Poppy?" Severus purred in Harry's ear.

 

Harry didn't have a chance to answer as Severus claimed his mouth for a kiss, which deepened quickly as they gently, explored the other's mouth again. Harry felt Severus shift on the bed and push him down onto the bed. As they kissed their hands wandered over each other, slowly opening buttons and exploring the flesh beneath their clothes. Harry felt Severus' hands ghost over his sore ribs and brush against his nipples. Harry's excitement peaked as elements of his dreams became true. Harry mimicked Severus' motions on the older man's body earning him a moan of approval from his partner. Eventually their hands reached lower as they stroked each other to completion.

 

If they, or anyone else for that matter, were watching the scarlet and gold phoenix would have noticed a certain sparkle in its eyes. There was a sparkle that would remind anyone who saw it of a certain twinkling pair of blue eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe challenge.  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 15  
By Corgi**

When Severus came back to earth, he quickly fished his wand out from his sleeve and spelled away the evidence of his and Harry's activities. He looked up from his task to see Harry's glazed eyes staring at him.

 

"We need to put ourselves back together, Harry, before Poppy comes charging in." Severus chuckled as he watched Harry fumble with the buttons of his pajamas. He gently swatted the addle-witted boy's hands out of the way and started to do up the buttons. "You'd better let me do that or it'll never get done."

 

Harry let him do so and as soon as he finished with Harry's clothes, he did up the hidden hooks that held his robes closed. He swept back Harry's sweat dampened hair and watched the younger man burrow into his side. He placed a kiss on Harry's forehead and saw his eyes twinkling at him.

 

"Why don't you get some sleep? I can guarantee that they'll be screaming in here bright and early tomorrow."

 

"I'd rather eat first. No one fed me today and I'm sure they'll forget to do so tomorrow during the circus."

 

"Then feed you we shall." Severus snapped his fingers twice and a house-elf appeared seconds later. Severus ordered dinner for the two of them, which arrived moments later. "Well, eat up, brat."

 

"I'm eating." Harry promptly displayed that fact by steadily shoveling food into his mouth.

 

The two enjoyed their quiet meal and Harry settled down to sleep in Severus' arms when they were done. Severus watched Harry sleep and once again wondered how he got so lucky to have Harry want to be part of his life. He sent a fervent prayer to any being that cared to listen for this to last as long as possible. He could be happy with whatever Harry wished to give him.

 

**Shade, the first watch is on their way up.** Fawkes warned him and he gently disentangled himself from Harry.

 

**I'm going to check on Narcissa and Draco before I leave the wing.** Severus felt the phoenix's acknowledgement as he tucked the blanket firmly around Harry's sleeping form.

 

Severus quickly made his way to the other end of the ward and smiled as he rounded the curtain surrounding Narcissa and Draco. Narcissa was on her side with her arms around her son, who was lying curled into her side on top of the covers. Severus went to the storage closet and found an extra set of blankets, which he tucked around his sleeping godson. With a parting kiss to Draco's temple Severus left the wing for his quarters intending to work on some more potions for the Hospital wing. 

 

Once back in his quarters, Severus started to gather his equipment and quickly started to brew the required potions. For the first time since his mother died, he hummed as he worked. Time flew by as Severus complete potion after potion and soon enough it was time for him to call it quits for the night. He cleaned up the various cauldrons, placed the ingredients in their proper places and locked his lab up. He quickly went through his night time routine and fell asleep dreaming of a certain green-eyed wizard.

 

Morning came much too soon for Severus and the insistent tapping on his head didn't help matters any. He opened his eyes a crack and saw a blurry dot of black surrounded by red. Severus sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes and when he opened them fully the black and red blur resolved itself into Fawkes.

 

**Was that really necessary, Fawkes?**

 

**Yes it was, Shade. Young silver was banging on your door for an hour. His mother wants you to be there when Winter questions her.**

**I'll be there in 15 minutes, Fawkes.** With that Severus hauled himself out of bed and Fawkes vanished in a ball of flame.

 

Severus quickly showered, shaved and dressed. He headed upstairs with a slight detour for a cup of coffee from the staff lounge. Once he had caffeine in his system he quickly made his way to the hospital wing. He managed to bead Albus there and noticed Harry was awake and talking to Lupin. Arthur Weasley was standing guard near Narcissa's bed. Severus nodded to Lupin and Arthur, scowled at Harry, who glared back, and made his way to Narcissa's side. He sat in the other bedside chair and noted both Malfoy's had their masks firmly in place. Severus didn't have to wait long for Albus' arrival. Sadly his entourage included Fudge and several Aurors. Severus knew that was going to be trouble, anything to do with Fudge was trouble. Out of one corner of his eye he noticed Lupin moving closer to the gathering. Severus didn't see Harry edging into the portioned area along the wall. When he did catch sight of the boy, Harry's only acknowledgement was a scowl and a subtle waggling of fingers in the folds of his dressing gown. Severus' attention was diverted away from Harry when Albus cleared his throat.

 

"Now Mrs. Malfoy, how did you arrive here?" Albus asked, suspicion written plainly on his face and the twinkle remarkably absent from his eyes.

 

"I received a port key disguised as a Christmas present." Narcissa's voice was cool and detached.

 

"I object to the boy being here," Fudge's condescending voice echoed through the Hospital Wing as he pointed at the youngest Malfoy.

 

"Draco stays." Severus snarled at the so-called Minister of Magic.

 

"You have no say in this, Snape." 

 

"I'm afraid he does, Minister. He is Draco Malfoy's legal guardian now. All the papers are signed and filed." Arthur interjected with a suspicious look on his face directed at the Minister.

 

"Besides Fudge, we all know you're in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm sure your protest was nothing but a ruse to put Draco with in his father's reach." Harry shot at the Minister.

 

Severus was hard put to hide his startled pride at Harry's statement and as he struggled to keep his mask on he stole a look at the other occupants of the room. Fudge, the Aurors, Albus, Lupin, the rest of the present Order members and teaching staff all stood with there mouths open in shock. Severus wanted to laugh at the stupid expressions on there faces. He knew that Harry's dislike of the Minister was well known, so the lot of them were showing their shock at the boy defending his once arch-nemesis. The only people not surprised were the two Malfoys, himself, Minerva, Poppy and Arthur. Fudge struggled to say something, but Albus started to question Narcissa again.

 

"Why did you give up custody of your son?" Albus asked with obvious curiosity as he ignored Harry's comment to Fudge.

 

"To keep him out of the Dark Lord's hands and the simple fact that Lucius has been beating my son for years. He's done enough damage." Narcissa looked closely at Albus as if weighing the man's belief. "Also Draco does not wish to be branded as that maniac's slave."

 

Everyone's attention was diverted by a trill that echoed throughout the wing. Everyone looked at the source of the noise and found Fawkes bobbing his head up and down as he perched on a triage table. For most of the people in the room his actions came as a complete surprise. Those present, who were familiar with the phoenix, smiled slightly and relaxed their guards a bit.

 

"I don't believe you, woman." Fudge roared into the slightly stunned silence.

 

**The woman tells the truth you incompetent fool.** Fawkes mentally shouted to the whole room.

 

Severus couldn't hide his shock at the bird's uncharacteristic loss of temper. The bird was generally placid no matter how annoyed at someone it became. False sparks of flame dripped from the bird's feathers, which disappeared before the struck the floor. If Fawkes could shoot flames with his eyes, Fudge would be a cinder right now. Albus on the other hand looked a little odd. His eyebrows were raised up in surprise and his eyes held a rage he has very rarely seen from the elderly wizard. 'Maybe we could lock Albus with the Minister for a week or too for his punishment,' Severus mused inwardly as he watched Albus pointedly turn his back on Fudge to continue questioning Narcissa.

 

"Do you know who sent you the port key, Mrs. Malfoy?" Albus asked, though everyone who knew him well could tell by the twinkle in his eye that he had an idea who sent the key.

 

"The package that it came in was addressed to me by someone trying to mimic my son's handwriting and carried by a snowy owl." Narcissa's eyes lit up slightly as she noted Albus' eyes twinkle brighter. "While the handwriting wasn't perfect copy it was enough to fool Lucius, which isn't hard at times. Being the sadistic bastard he is, Lucius allowed me to open the package while tormenting me with images of my own demise. When I opened the package I found a necklace unfortunately Lucius wouldn't let me touch it and turned his back to gather parchment to write my farewells to my son. The snowy owl had stayed as if it was expecting a reply. While Lucius was returning to the table I was trapped at the owl swooped from her perch and grabbed the chain. She flew straight towards me and as he came closer the Dark Lord arrived. As the owl tangled my hand in the port key the Dark Lord shouted to Lucius 'that's Potter's owl you idiot' and both started firing curses. One of the killing curses hit the owl as the port key activated. Since we were in the key's field the curse didn't kill the owl, but it did slice through her wing. If it wasn't for Professor Snape's and Hagrid's timely appearance the owl would have bled to death."

 

"Really Potter, only you would be as stupid as to send a port key into Death Eater hands. Anyone could have picked it up. What would you have done if the Dark Lord picked it up?" Severus snarled in his best 'you're too stupid to breathe' voice.

 

"I made the port key Professor and I keyed it to my mother's magical signature. It wouldn't have activated unless she was touching it." Draco chimed in, with a glare for his godfather.

 

"I wasn't about to let her die with out doing something to help her." Harry snarled. "Besides no one got hurt and I didn't leave school grounds." He glared back at Severus, who was muttering under his breathe.

 

Severus, Harry and Minerva all noticed the frown of disappointment Albus showed for a brief moment before he covered it up. Minerva smirked slightly before resuming her normal prim expression. Severus and Harry continued their glaring while both muttered what the rest of the room assumed were disparaging remarks about each other. Albus turned back to Narcissa after another brief glance at Harry and Severus.

 

"How did you get the custody papers filed?" Albus asked, he was definitely curious about this little fact.

 

"Lucius has quite a large supply of the Ministries spelled parchment. It was very easy to liberate some from his desk while he was detained in the Auror's holding cells. When the idiot was freed by the Dark Lord I wrote up the document and spelled it to look like school board business. It wasn't hard to stroke Lucius' overwhelming vanity and convince him the school board wanted him back." Narcissa with obvious scorn directed at her husband.

 

"Yes, I remember those papers he brought. You managed to fool me and Professor McGonagall. Now perhaps you can explain how you got the papers to Arthur Weasley?"

 

"I hid the papers in Harry's trunk," Narcissa calmly replied.

 

'How?' was shouted from a dozen voices as the shock sank in. Faces all around the room went from aghast to angry in less than five seconds. Severus noted that besides himself only Harry, Narcissa, Draco and Minerva were the only ones with no expression. He internally danced with glee when he realized that Albus was among those confounded by this little tidbit of news. Severus was too when he first found out though he didn't blame Harry for taking that chance after hearing about the Dursley's treatment of the boy.

 

"Mrs. Malfoy, I suggest that you explain." Albus was torn between anger and curiosity.

 

"During the second week of June Draco and I went to Diagon Alley to purchase something we'd need before we left for our family chateau in France. When we were leaving we spotted an overly large muggle pounding on a slight boy. When we passed closer Draco noticed that the boy was Harry and we intervened. Harry informed me that the muggle was his uncle and I decided that he obviously wasn't safe with his 'family' that I would shelter him in France. It would have been the last place the Dark Lord would look for him."

 

"Harry… "Albus started, but stopped when he saw the anger in Harry's eyes. Severus mentally cheered the boy on.

 

"Don't use that tone with me," Harry snarled at the headmaster while the onlookers gasped in shock. "You knew they didn't want me and treated me horribly."

 

"Harry, we warned them. Why didn't you say anything?" Remus asked in that quiet way of his, though you could see the anger building beneath the calm surface.

 

"Yeah you did, but Vernon shrugged your warning off. After he found out Sirius was gone it all went to hell. He was more afraid of 'the escaped mass murderer' than a bunch of freaks. He dropped me off outside the Leaky Cauldron so I could get my supplies and said he would be back in an hour to get me. Two hours after that he still hadn't shown so I was going to summon the Knight Bus to take me home. Then he shows up and throws a fit because my wand is out. He decided not to wait till we got home to show his displeasure. Mrs. Malfoy has already told you the rest."

 

Remus was growling by the time Harry finished and looked ready to tell Severus not to worry about his Wolfsbane potion. When he took two steps towards Severus he stopped and a puzzled expression crossed his face. He looked curiously at Severus then focused his gaze on Harry. Neither man gave any outward clues to the confused were-wolf. Severus didn't intend on giving any in the near future.

 

"Only you would be stupid enough to go with the family of a known Death Eater, Potter." Severus sneered at the younger man, who glared back with equal venom and a glint of something that wasn't hate or contempt.

 

"I still had means to get away if the offer wasn't as genuine as it turned out. Besides I needed help to retrieve my school supplies." Harry decided to let his Slytherin show for a brief moment before continuing. "Besides dealing with Draco's selfishness was a cake walk when compared to dealing with my cousin's."

 

"So this is why I haven't had the pleasure of deducting points from Gryffindor for the bi-annual Malfoy-Potter face off?" Severus' drawl echoed through the wing and he was hard put to keep a disgruntled look on his face, especially with Fawkes' mental whisper invading his mind with less than appropriate images. Harry just smirked in reply.

 

"You still foolishly risked your neck." Severus snarled once again at Harry and watched Albus struggling to hide his disappointed in them both. He was startled out of his discreet observation by hi godson's familiar drawl.

 

"Whose stupid idea was it to rescue him from Lucius' clutches?" Draco asked from the other side of his mother.

 

"It was yours."

 

"I thought so. Remind me the next time he's in a mess we can pull him out of not to."

 

"If you insist, though I do have to remind you if you get rid of your guardian you may end up living with Ron." Severus noted Harry's flinch at Draco's comment and he was the only one that did. A small ball of warmth spread through him at the implied meaning. He also saw Draco's shudder at the mention of Ron Weasley and Narcissa's smirk at her son's reaction. Severus gathered himself for another verbal volley at Harry.

 

"Severus, enough!" Albus barked at him when the younger man opened his mouth to start in again. Severus tilted his head forward to hide his eyes giving him the freedom to observe everyone in the room. "How did you two return Professor Snape to the school?" Albus continued his questioning.

 

"I had an emergency port key that Mr. Weasley made me that would take me to the hospital wing." Albus gave Harry a reprimanding looked, which Harry shrugged off with a glare and a raised eyebrow. Minerva wasn't joking about the chasm that opened between Harry and Albus.

 

"Well I don't see any problems with your leaving once Madam Pomfrey declares you healthy Mrs. Malfoy, but where you're going to live now is a question that needs to be answered."

 

"I wasn't expecting to survive; very few people do live through the Dark Lord's displeasure and have given no thought to my living accommodations. When Lucius was arrested two years ago, the Ministry seized all of my inheritance from my parents instead of any Malfoy properties. I don't have any place to stay at this moment in time." Severus noticed the glances exchanged by the were-wolf and Harry and waited to see what would come of it.

 

"Which properties were seized?" Lupin asked the ice blonde witch.

 

"Hailstone Manor in Wales and Mandrake Keep in Ireland were the properties take as well as vaults 1109 and 890 in Gringrotts. I was hoping to hole up in Mandrake Keep since it had the strongest wards."

 

"Those wards are gone now. All of those properties were returned to the main Black family holdings." Lupin informed the former scion of the House of Black in a quiet voice. Before Lupin could continue Fudge's annoying voice rang out.

 

"You can't give confiscated property back once the Ministry seized it." The man roared, his face becoming increasingly red.

 

"The properties belonging to the Black family are legally mine to dispose of as I see fit. If I wish to return property to those that it was wrongfully taken from then I will, but knowing you as well as I do I'll have to alter my plans." Harry sneered at Fudge and Severus had to admit, to himself at least, that Harry was getting very good at it. "Remus when you get back home find out how much was in the account and find vaults with the same value. If not we'll have to open new vaults with those amounts. Blackmoor Estate was that really heavily warded property even Moody had problems entering, right?" At Lupin's nod Harry turned to Narcissa. "Would you mind having that one instead of Mandrake Keep?"

 

"No I wouldn't, but why are you doing this? You have no reason to or responsibility to take care of us."

 

"Anything to tick Lucy off and besides Sirius would love getting one over on him and Fudge." Harry smirked at the Minister, who now was livid. Everyone in the room had a hard time suppressing their laughter.

 

"I'd be happy to accept. Now I just have to find something to occupy my time. I'll miss giving away the Malfoy money." Lupin looked at her with a questioning expression on his face and she elaborated. "I was the one who made most of the donations to charity Fudge was so keen on pointing out every time he defended Lucius."

 

"Would you like to take care of that for Harry's estates?" Lupin asked, hope evident in his eyes. "We get bombarded daily with pleas for money and neither Harry nor I know who's legitimate or who's out to line their own pockets."

 

"I think I can handle that. When Madam Pomfrey allows me to leave perhaps we can go over the estate accounts and decide how much to contribute." Lupin's only response was a nod of agreement and Severus looked over at Minerva with raised brows while Fudge and his minions spoke in hushed tones a little way off.

 

Lupin and Narcissa continued to talk quietly while Albus seemed to be content with what ever information was gathered about the woman's appearance in the school. Severus knew he was going to grill Harry at a later date about the Dursley's treatment. Severus wasn't going to wish the old man luck trying to get the boy to talk with him. He knew Harry was mad at him not only for the old meddler's secret keeping, but also the snow globe incident. Severus wished he could be there for that little interview. 

 

Despite his inner thoughts he kept the majority of his attention of Fudge and his cronies. He noticed as he did another quick survey of the room that Harry and Draco was watching the man just as intently as Severus was. He knew the man was going to make one more attempt to gain control of Narcissa and Draco. He didn't know if the man was going to contest Draco's custody, but Severus wasn't going to take that chance. As he kept his eye on the incompetent man he sorted through all the laws and amendments he father insisted he learn as part of his training. After a few moments he remembered one truly archaic one that would by-pass anything Fudge could throw out. It virtually gave Harry control of anyone connected with the House of Black since women were considered a bare step from property during the time that law was written. Harry wouldn't like it, but since it never was rescinded it could be used and Fudge couldn't counter it legally.

 

**Fawkes, relay this to Harry please. Article 6 subsection 4 in the Ministry's Law Book states that Heads of Household reserve the right to control the coming and goings of those in there households and no one has the right to remove women and children from their domain without their consent.**

 

**That's a very old law, Shade, and the cub isn't going to like the implications of it.**

**I know he won't Fawkes, but unfortunately he may need to play that card. Fudge may try and interfere with the custody papers too. Draco is a month younger than Harry and he'll fall under that law too.**

**Alright, Shade. I've passed the message on and I was right, he didn't care for it at all.**

**It doesn't matter if he doesn't like it, just so long as he uses it to his advantage.**

 

Fawkes only reply was a mental chuckle and the bird settled down to enjoy the show. They didn't have long to wait as Fudge turned away from his toadies and moved towards Narcissa's bed once again. The Aurors he brought with him flanked him so that the surrounded the foot of the bed. Fudge looked around and bolstered his courage before opening his mouth.

 

"Narcissa Malfoy, we'll have to take you in for questioning."

 

"Do I have to give another exclusive interview, Minister?" Harry spoke in a deadly whisper moments before anyone else could respond. "It won't take me long to get Rita Skeeter here for it. I can have the whole interview on the newsstands in less than an hour."

 

"You have no right to interfere in this boy." Fudge spluttered.

 

"Actually I do. I really didn't want to use this, but since you're forcing me I will. I’m the Head of household for the Black family with the passing of my godfather and Article 6 subsection 4 of the Law Books states you do not have the right to interfere with members of the Black family without my consent, which you certainly are doing at this moment. I suggest you leave before I have to take action."

 

Fudge looked at Harry blankly, obviously clueless about the active laws on the books. Severus chuckled under his breath as one of the older Aurors leaned over to whisper in the idiot's ear. Fudge's face went from red to a pasty grey colour in a matter of seconds. Severus watch with glee as the man fled the room with his escort of Auror's running to catch up. Everyone left in the room snickered as soon as the Hospital Wing doors closed. They didn't have time to celebrate when Madam Pomfrey stormed into the room.

 

"Alright you lot, my patient needs rest. Leave at once." Poppy's commanding voice was clearing the room quickly when she looked up and spotted her other patient. "What are you doing out of bed young man?" 

 

"I was needed for the proceedings, Madam Pomfrey." Harry responded in an innocent voice. Severus snorted and put on his best sneer.

 

"The infuriating brat was the cause of the proceedings." Severus snarled.

 

"Don't mind him, Madam Pomfrey; he's just mad because the headmaster yelled at him." Harry countered with a cheeky grin. 

 

Severus could see the mischief in his eyes as the boy made his way back to his hospital bed. By the time the boy settled himself on the bed the look was gone and a disgruntled expression settled on his face as Albus and Minerva surrounded the bed. Poppy made her way over quickly and began scanning the boy. 

 

"Mr. Potter you may leave after lunch. Make sure you eat it all, understand? I don't want to do anything strenuous or any heavy lifting for the next twenty-four hours. If you feel any pain in your chest I want you to come straight back."

 

"Yes, Madame Pomfrey," Harry replied with a sigh. 

 

"I will return after lunch. Do not think you'll be getting out of those detentions I assigned you." Severus announced with a malicious glint in his eyes. 

 

Albus looked ready to protest and Minerva was having trouble keeping a straight face. Poppy was furious and Harry was muttering under his breath.

 

"Mr. Potter!" Poppy shouted at the green-eyed wizard in shock. Severus could imagine what the brat was saying.

 

"Severus, it's Christmas Eve. Won't you postpone the detentions until the new term starts up?" Albus asked, his eyes twinkling once again.

 

"No I won't, Albus! I don't care if it's the useless Christmas Holiday; Potter will serve the detentions that his actions have earned him. It's because of him I have to spend that torturous time in your globe!"

 

"You got what you deserved, Snape!" Harry snarled at Severus.

 

"Professor Snape, Harry." Albus admonished the young Gryffindor.

 

"And you'll be spending the week getting exactly what you deserve." Severus sneered, gave Albus and Minerva a nod farewell and left the Wing in a flurry of robes.

 

Severus spent the rest of the morning preparing for the return of the students. He restocked the student cupboards. After the basic setting up was done he finished any marking he didn't already do and made up some tests for his brainless students. After finishing up the stray marking he started on one of the more complex healing potions for Poppy. He figured she'd ask him for it when he returned to collect Harry from the Hospital Wing. Once the final ingredients were added it was time for lunch. He lowered the flame and allowed the potion to simmer for the required two hours. Severus left for the Great Hall and as he approached every student in his path dove for cover until he passed.

 

Lunch was a quiet affair and Severus made it a point to avoid looking at anyone, especially Albus and Minerva. Albus was ignored because Severus wasn't in the mood for one of his lectures; Minerva on the other hand looked ready to burst out laughing if Severus so much as glanced in her direction. He couldn't let her give the game away so early. There's nothing more annoying, in Severus' opinion, than a smug Albus. As soon as he collected Harry he was going to stop in front of the nosiest portrait in the school and begin their plan to terrorize the headmaster until Valentine's Day, when the old meddler's real atonement will begin.

 

Severus finished as quickly as he could get away with and strode through the hallways to the infirmary. Harry was slowly getting ready as he entered the room. Harry looked up at Severus when he heard the door open and gave Severus a bright smile. Severus couldn't help himself and returned the smile. He quickly schooled his features into their habitual expression of cold distain before someone saw him.

 

"Hurry up, Potter! I haven't all day." He snapped at the dressing young man.

 

"I'm going as fast as I can, Professor." Harry spat in response.

 

"Do you wish to add another week's worth of detention to your tally?" Severus had a hard time holding his mask in place when Harry mouthed 'yes' to him.

 

"Oh good you're here, Severus. I need more of the Tōtus Sānāntĭo draught. I used the last of the batch on Mrs. Malfoy and Mr. Johnson of Ravenclaw."

 

"I'll have it ready in the morning, Poppy. Now if you'll excuse me? Mr. Potter, come along."

 

Harry left the curtained off area around his hospital bed and made his way to Severus' side. As they left the wing Poppy shouted restrictions on Harry's activities, which Severus ignored as he swept out of the wing. Harry snickered quietly as behind him as he followed in his wake. Severus took the long way to the dungeon stairs. He stopped in front of the portrait of Katherine the Pious and much to his glee the second biggest gossip among the paintings, Violet, was visiting the loud mouth.

 

"You are capable of sharpening knives, are you not, Potter?"

 

"Yes, I know how to, Professor."

 

"Good! Now do you remember the plan?"

 

"Hmm… I'll lure the Headmaster out into to open and you'll hit him from behind. We drag him down to the dungeons and dispose of the body."

 

"Correct."

 

"Do you have specimen jars large enough for what you can't use right away?"

 

"Of course I do. I occasionally find a dragon corpse to harvest near my manor. You'll be helping me with those potions that will require the most recognizable parts of the meddling old coot."

 

"That would be his beard, hair and eyes, right?"

 

"Correct again, Potter."

 

"What are we going to do with his glasses? They're indestructible."

 

"We'll plant them on Lucius Malfoy."

 

"How long do you thing we'll have before someone notices he's missing?"

 

"A day at the most, so we'll have to work quickly. They world will notice his lack of meddling in mere moments. It's time we get a move on. We've much work to do."

 

Severus pivoted and headed down to the dungeons with Harry in tow. Severus cheered inwardly as he started to hear the news spread amongst the portraits as they made their way down. Soon the news will reach Albus and he wondered how distorted the story will be before it got to the old man's ears. Severus stopped in front of an old portrait of Nicolas Flamel and barked the password to him. He ushered Harry into his private lab and watched as Harry looked around in amazement at his pristine lab. Harry slowly turned around to look at Severus with a huge smile.

 

"Where are the knives you need me to sharpen?" Severus raised his brow in surprise. "We have to make it look real, just incase he checks up on us."

 

"Well, you can think ahead!" Severus responded in a teasing tone.

 

"Why would I want the enemy to know I could?" Harry responded in kind.

 

"Point taken. The knives are in the center draw of each workstation. The sharpening stone is on the right hand side of each knife draw."

 

Harry nodded and set about his assigned task as Severus checked on his simmering potion. Satisfied with the result he took it off the flame and set it aside to cool. As that potion cooled Severus started to work on the antidotes he would need to fix the messes his students would no doubt be getting into the moment they crossed his threshold. When he had a moment to step away from the potions he was brewing he retrieved the storage boxes with the large specimen jars. Harry had the right idea about making the whole ruse seem real. A glance at Harry showed the young wizard making steady progress in sharpening the knives. He left the glassware on an empty workstation and checked the knives Harry had already finished and placed them back into their proper places. The two worked in a companionable silence and two hours after they started their tasks Severus felt the wards around his lab part. He stiffened and noticed Harry looking at him with a question on his face. Severus glanced at his doorway and Harry nodded waiting for his cue.

 

"Are you done with those knives yet, you lazy brat?" Severus barked at the younger wizard.

 

"I'm just finishing with the last of them, Professor." Harry replied.

 

"It's about time. When you're done putting those away you'll start cleaning and sterilizing the specimen jars. I don't want a speck of anything in those jars. It's not often I'm able to harvest those kind of ingredients and I won't allow them to be contaminated."

 

"Yes, Professor." 

 

They both glanced at the partially opened door and heard the very slight gasp that sounded just outside the door. A flash of white hair and a glimpse of purple was all the two saw of the spying Headmaster as the man left. Severus walked to the door and cautiously looked out. He saw nothing in the corridor outside his lab. He turned and closed the door and looked for Harry. Harry was watching him as he scrubbed the first of glass jars. Severus smirked and Harry broke out in laughter at the Headmaster's reaction. They spent the rest of the time for dinner reviewing Harry's defence lessons from their time in the globe. Once Harry was done with the jars he moved over to the workstation Severus was working at and began helping bottle the potions that the older wizard was finished with, making sure that he completely sealed them and clearly label them. The two cleaned up and headed to the Great Hall with Harry still acting like the unwilling victim.

 

Dinner was very amusing for Harry, Severus and Minerva as they watched Albus fidget during dinner. Albus shot glances at the two of them during the whole meal and he was the first to leave the dinner table. Harry ducked his and covered his face in his napkin as he failed to hide his laughter. Severus couldn't keep the smug expression off his face and Minerva struggled valiantly to keep her normal expression plastered on her face. The rest of the staff were totally clueless and kept trying to get information out of both Severus and Minerva. Severus invited Minerva to his quarters for a nightcap and to talk before he left the table dragging a supposedly unwilling Harry behind him. 

 

Once back in Severus' lab Harry continued to clean the specimen jars as Severus started yet another potion for the Hospital Wing. As they worked they focused their attention on planning to remove the Dark Lord from existence. Harry was concerned about the wizard's soul returning once again to wreak havoc on the wizarding world in the future. Severus had to admit that Harry had valid concerns. As they talked about ways to keep the Dark Lord's soul from remaining on the material plane Severus began rummaging in his mind for the titles of books that may help Harry in his struggle. Grabbing a quill and parchment he began to write down titles from both the restricted section of the library and from his own personal collection. He handed Harry the list from the school's library along with a note allowing him access to the books for the Librarian. 

 

"You're looking a little tired, Harry." Severus noted the obvious bags under the young man's eyes as he glanced up from his work.

 

"I'm feeling it too." Harry responded with a small grin. "Staying in the Hospital Wing always makes me tired for a few days. I think Madam Pomfrey does it on purpose."

 

"Follow me." Severus showed Harry to the concealed door that lead into his private quarters. "The bedroom is the door on the left the bathroom the one on the right. Take a nap before Minerva has my head for neglect." 

 

Harry giggled and made a beeline for the bathroom as Severus returned to the lab to continue his work. He wanted to finish the last few potions he knew Poppy would need when the students came back. He planned on spending as much time as he could with Harry. Hopefully the 'detention' will pass muster and Minerva will cooperate more than she has already. Time flew by as he worked and before he knew it Minerva was knocking on his lab door.

 

"Good Evening, Minerva. I see you escaped the staff party intact this year." Severus said with a smirk at his colleague.

 

"Yes, it was rather easy this year. Albus has locked himself in his tower trying to figure out how to defend himself from you two."

 

"Is he that concerned?"

 

"Yes he is, though he's more convinced that Harry's the one who's going to get him. I do know he believes the boy to be more powerful than he is. Time will tell though."

 

"That's odd even for Albus. Then again, Harry told me about the fit of rage he had after Black's death. He trashed most of Albus' office that night. It could be that he's a bit afraid of the boy now." Severus replied with his brow furrowed in thought as he finished up his work. "Knowing Albus, he's just acting this way to throw us off. He's not afraid of much and I doubt he's afraid of me and Harry joining forces long enough to do him in."

 

"Yes, playing everyone as the fool is definitely Albus' style. Sometimes I wonder if the Hat put him in the correct house all those years ago." Minerva watched as Severus finished cleaning up for the night. "Enough talk about Albus. Where's Harry?"

 

"I sent him to my room for a nap. He looked ready to collapse when he was done with the jars." Severus pointed at the large specimen jars. "He thought we should make everything look real in case Albus showed up to check on us." Severus had a malicious gleam in his eye as he said the latter.

 

"I take it Albus did arrive to check on you two?"

 

"Yes he did, but he didn't hang around to chat. That's very unusual for Albus, isn't it?"

 

"That it is. Perhaps he decided to rethink his strategy? I believe you and Harry should take some harmless pot shots at him when classes resume. It'll keep him off balance."

 

"Are you sure you were sorted correctly, Minerva?"

 

"Of course I was. The Hat barely touched my head before screaming out Gryffindor!"

 

"That's too bad. You're starting to plot like a Slytherin."

 

"Too many tea times with you can do that to a person, Severus." 

 

"Well I can't say the same about you, Minerva." Severus smirked at the comment as he placed the last of his equipment away for the night. "Brandy or Scotch?"

 

"Scotch, of course."

 

"One of these days, Minerva, someone's going to poison the scotch and then where will you be?"

 

"I'll be banging on your door looking for the antidote." Minerva's grin widened at the exasperated look on her younger colleague's face.

 

Severus led the way into his quarters and walked straight to his drinks cabinet to pour himself and Minerva their preferred drinks. As he picked up the glasses he heard Minerva chuckle.

 

"I thought you sent Harry to bed, Severus?"

 

"I did."

 

"He's not there."

 

Severus turned around and looked to where Minerva was standing. Stretched out on his sofa was Harry. Severus smirked and shook his head in disbelief before replying.

 

"I did point out where the bedroom was." 

 

"I couldn't hear you working from the bedroom so I crashed on your sofa," Harry replied sleepily. "Hi, Professor McGonagall."

 

"Good Evening, Harry. Did you enjoy your nap?" Harry only laughed in response and sat up so either of his professors could sit on the sofa with him.

 

Severus waved Minerva over to the arm chair and sat down next to Harry on the sofa. A quick flick of his wand summoned a pitcher of pumpkin juice, a pot of tea and tray of snacks. The three sat in silence sipping their drinks as they gathered their thoughts.

 

"We really need to decide how we're going to give you time together without Albus finding out. I have an idea, but I want to hear if you had any first." Minerva broke the silence and looked to the other two occupants of the room expectantly.

 

"Other than seeing a whole lot of detentions from Professor Snape, I haven’t a plan at all. I haven't gotten a chance to think about it yet." Harry replied while looking towards Severus for his input.

 

"I have every intention of continuing his Occlumency lessons as well as the dueling lessons we started while in that blasted globe. Whether that will be good enough for Albus remains to be seen. Now that he's suspicious he may interfere. What were you planning, Minerva?"

 

"I thought we can say that Harry's visions from You-Know-Who are stronger than before and I felt it was necessary to keep him in my quarters so I can keep and eye on him during the visions as well as to allow his dorm mates a chance to sleep." Minerva replied with mischief sparkling in her eyes. "As long as he leaves from my rooms in the morning it won't spark any rumors for Albus to hear if he spends time here in the dungeons. Just remember Tuesdays and Thursdays he has his Animagus lessons with me. We missed enough time because of Albus' little plot."

 

"I think that would be acceptable, Minerva. Harry?"

 

"It works for me. How's the Headmaster taking our little game?"

 

"Not well, right now he believes that Severus' hitting him from behind is just a ploy so you can do it. He's acting like he's more afraid of you than Severus," Minerva replied into the silence.

 

"It could be just a ploy to throw us off. I really don't think he'd be afraid of me."

 

"Harry does have a point, Minerva. Albus could be a slippery as a Slytherin when he wants to." 

 

Harry yawned after a few moments and laid back down for another nap using Severus' thigh as a pillow. Severus watched as Harry fell asleep to the murmurs of his and Minerva's conversation and the unconscious stroking of his hand through the younger man's hair. Minerva smiled and the two turned their conversation to the happenings around the school during Severus' absence. This Christmas Eve was turning out to be one of the most pleasant he's spent since his mother's death, that is, until someone started hammering on his door.


	16. Chapter 16

  
Author's notes: Ataraxis' snowglobe Challenge  


* * *

**Holiday Hell  
Chapter 16  
By Corgi**

Harry was content to drift away while listening to Severus and Professor McGonagall talk. When Severus started to run his fingers through Harry's hair the young wizard drifted off to sleep. Harry jumped slightly when someone pounded on Severus' door. Severus stiffened and his hand stopped moving while apprehension filled the room. Harry heard his head of house say something to Severus before getting out of her seat. Harry could hear the rustling of her robes as she moved to the door. The hammering started up again and this time a voice was added into the mix.

 

"Severus, open this door! I know you're in here!" Remus' voice was muffled by the thick door, but it was easily identifiable despite it.

 

Harry sat up once he recognized Remus' voice, but didn't move away from Severus. He leaned against the taller man, whose arm circled his shoulder with a squeeze; while he listened to Professor McGonagall's whispered conversation with Remus as they walked towards the fireplace. Harry looked at the were-wolf and notice how unhappy the man was. Remus' expression was angry and that was such an unusual emotion on his face. Harry has never seen that look on the other man's face. Remus stalked into the room with McGonagall trailing behind him with a very pinched look on her face. She obviously wasn't happy with the werewolf's behavior.

 

"What are you doing to him, Severus?" Remus was practically foaming at the mouth and his eyes glowed slightly in the firelight. Harry did a quick calculation and realized how close it was to the full moon.

 

"We were talking to Minerva, Lupin. Not that it's any business of yours." Severus' familiar condescending tone echoed in his room.

 

"I doubt that, Severus. I smell him all over you and it's too strong just to be from detention."

 

"I've been stuck in a snow globe with the brat for over a week. How else would you expect me to smell?"

 

Remus looked at Minerva with a question visible in his eyes. Minerva nodded at the werewolf, who turned his attention back to the two men sitting on the couch. Remus studied the two men and his eyes narrowed when he noticed Severus' arm around Harry and how close Harry was sitting to him. Harry could clearly hear the low menacing growl Remus made deep in his chest. Harry wondered if the Headmaster sent the werewolf any Wolfsbane potion while they were trapped.

 

"Remus, did you get your potion?" Harry asked quietly, breaking the mounting tension.

 

"Yes, but it didn't taste the same this time. It was very bitter, like the first time I received the stuff."

 

"I didn't make it this month. Albus left us in the snow globe with nothing to do and no means of communication. We just got out three days ago." Severus calmly replied to the slight insult.

 

"Why would he have done that? He wouldn't be that daft." Remus' eyes were wide with disbelief despite Minerva's confirmation earlier.

 

"It was his idea to force us to work together. We had nothing to do to escape each other and no one to play interference for us. We had no choice, but we did so under our own terms." Harry added, while watching the werewolf closely. He loved the man, but sometimes the prejudices his father and Sirius had surfaced in the tired man.

 

"I hardly think what I see is acceptable, Harry." Remus glared and Harry was hard put to suppress a sigh. He had an idea why Remus was acting this way, but wasn't sure if it was correct.

 

"What isn't acceptable, Lupin?" Severus snarled at the werewolf, ready to fight if necessary.

 

"There are no rules against them being together, Remus." Minerva chided her former student.

 

"This is wrong. They've always hated each other. He's a teacher and twice Harry's age!" Remus protested, with his hands gesturing wildly as he did so.

 

"They haven't hated each other in a long while. They just didn't know the other's change in heart, Remus." Minerva gave the werewolf a sad glance.

 

"You can't tell me you condone this Minerva?" Remus cried out in shock.

 

"I can't stop them and I can't be a hypocrite. I became involved with Albus during my seventh year and I was still in formal classes with him. Severus is no longer teaching Harry in class. There won't be any cries favoritism since Harry's not in N.E.W.T potions." 

 

Remus paced in front of Severus' fireplace. Harry thought he saw increasing panic in the werewolf's agitated movements. Harry felt surer; during each pass the man made, why Remus was so upset with his budding relationship with Severus.

 

"No one's going to take me away from you, Remus. I'm not going to abandon you. You're the only real family I have left." Harry broke the tension with that quiet declaration.

 

Remus deflated with relief at Harry's statement and the three watching him noticed the fear leaving his eyes. Harry cheered inwardly at his correct reading of the werewolf. Remus collapsed in a hastily conjured chair and accepted a cup of tea in a transfigured cup. Remus heaved a sigh and offered an apology, which everyone accepted readily. Remus looked at Severus and opened his mouth to say something, but Severus quickly cut him off.

 

"Let me guess, Lupin. If I hurt Harry you'll do all sorts of horrid things to me. Though if that wasn't what you were going to say, please continue." Severus smirked at the werewolf, who colored slightly and chuckled.

 

"That was what I was going to say," Remus admitted. "Severus, why have you been returning the money I've sent for the Wolfsbane Potion every month?"

 

"The potions were already paid for, Lupin. The money has been arriving two weeks prior to the full moon since July. I couldn't figure out why you were sending me more."

 

Remus turned to Harry and glared. Harry just smiled innocently before explaining.

 

"You didn't read that contract you insisted on us having before you became my estates manager?"

 

"No, you said you put everything I insisted on in it." Remus looked perplexed as he responded.

 

"Oh, I did that, but I added some things. The most important one was a healthcare package. Any medical bills you incur during you employment and your Wolfsbane Potion is paid for by the estate." Harry gave Remus a wicked grin when he noticed the man's slack-jawed expression. "Since it's in the contract you signed, you can't protest."

 

"Sirius put you up to that, didn't he?"

 

"Yep, he insisted that I take care of you. It's not my fault you didn't read it before you signed."

 

"Alright, Harry, I'll concede defeat this time. Are you sure you can trust Mrs. Malfoy? I still can't believe you took such a chance."

 

"I do trust her and Draco, Moony. I wouldn't have stayed if Hedwig didn't trust them. I've learned from my third and sixth years to trust Hedwig and Crookshanks. Their instincts are really too good to ignore about some things. Hedwig really took to Mrs. Malfoy the moment she arrived in France."

 

"I'm surprised that nose of yours isn't giving you that information, Lupin," Severus added.

 

"She's too badly bruised for me to smell anything other than blood. I'm still not sure about what's going to happen. I'm worried about what will happen when her spouse divorces her. He could try to seize the properties and vaults Harry want to sign over to her."

 

"There are ways to stop that. Narcissa will know which to implement." Severus reassured the werewolf.

 

"Which vault to you want the charitable contributions to come from, Harry?" Remus asked while getting up to leave.

 

"Hmm… I think the vineyard's vault will do. It's making money faster than St. Mungo's could spend it." Harry replied after a moments thought.

 

"Alright, I'll see you again before I return home, Harry. Happy Christmas, everyone." Lupin quietly left the room to its previous three occupants.

 

Minerva chuckled slightly at the slightly stunned farewell from the werewolf and turned to Severus to watch the man's reaction.

 

"That was too easy. I expected more of a fight from Lupin." Severus looked slightly confused at the lack of argument from the graying man.

 

"Perhaps it was, Severus. He may bring it up again at a later date, but then again he may not. It is close to the full moon so his behaviour and emotions will be off." Minerva replied, thinking through the problem.

 

"That's true. I'll worry about it later when I've got the time. He may be waiting to talk to Harry alone and probably won't make any headway with him." Severus looked down at Harry and smiled, while Minerva stifled a giggle behind her hand.

 

"Now that's something I can get used to seeing." Minerva said when Severus looked up at her smothered laughter.

 

"What?"

 

"Seeing you smile. I wonder how much damage you could do if you did it in the great hall."

 

"There wouldn't be a student left standing. Who knows what would happen to the staff?" Harry joked sleepily. Severus snorted and tapped Harry on the head in mock reproach, his smile widening.

 

Harry snuggled closer to Severus and began to doze off while listening to his teachers voices bickering good naturedly back and forth. Severus' arm was a comfortable weight around his waist as he breathed in the scent of various potions that clung to the man's clothes. Harry drifted into sleep lulled once again by the murmurs of the witch and wizard conversing.

 

Hardly any time seemed to have passed before he awoke due to Severus moving him gently to the side to see Professor McGonagall out. Harry blinked rapid to clear his vision of sleep and resettled he glasses on his nose. He wished hi Head of House goodnight and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. He quickly showered, dried off and dressed in his pajamas. He padded barefoot into the bedroom and took his first look at Severus' décor. The room was done up in shades of blue, the walls being the lightest blue imaginable and the comforter the darkest. 

 

As Harry admired the dark wood furniture and studied the few mementos of Severus' school years, Severus walked into the room and watched with amusement. Harry, during his exploration of the room, turned and walked right into the taller man. Harry felt the heat of his blush as Severus smirked at him. While Harry was lost in his meanderings Severus had showered and changed into his grey nightshirt. Harry didn't have much time to continue with his observation since Severus captured his attention and his mouth. Harry gasped as he felt himself pulled closer to the burning heat of Severus' form. Harry melted against the taller man as their kiss deepened.

 

The kiss started gently, but became increasingly demanding. Harry's knees went week as Severus ran one hand down his back, the feathery touch made him shiver. Harry didn't realize Severus was moving them towards the bed until he fell into it. Severus fell with him without breaking the kiss. They broke apart to catch their breath and dove back in, each man exploring by touch as they remapped eat other's mouth. Severus left trails of fire along Harry's skin, despite the presence of his clothes, as he dragged his fingers down Harry's chest and stomach.

 

Harry's excitement built as Severus toyed with him, so did his impatience. He didn't know how far Severus was willing to go tonight, but Harry intended taking it as far as he could. Harry managed to push the taller, heavier wizard onto his back without breaking their kiss. He straddled Severus' waist, while breaking the kiss to trail down the man's throat. Harry made his way down Severus' jugular, following a recently discovered instinct, with little nips, licks, and kisses.

 

As he worshipped the older wizard's neck, he was rewarded with low breathy moans. Harry took his time working his way down Severus' body. As he mouth inched lower, his hands made their way, one button at a time, down Severus' night shirt. As every other button was opened, Harry covered the newly reveal skin with kisses. When he undid enough buttons to expose Severus' nipples, he began to suckle on one while rubbing the other gently with his fingers.

 

Severus moaned his appreciation and fisted his hands into the blankets. When the nub was hard and pebbly from his administrations, he lightly graved his teeth over it. Severus bucked his hips upwards. As he did so his erection brushed against Harry's, causing the younger wizard to whimper. Harry moved on to repeat his actions on Severus' other nipple before resuming his journey downwards. Harry paused in this travels to play with the taller man's belly button. He could feel Severus' cock bouncing off his throat each time the man's breath hitched. With an oddly detached corner of his mind, Harry wondered if the man ever wore pants to bed.

 

Harry licked the head of Severus' cock before sitting back up and admiring the practically hairless man beneath him. Severus' eyes were half closed, his face flushed, and his lips slightly parted as he panted. It took the black-eyed wizard a few moments to notice Harry had stopped and several more before he could protest the younger man's lack of action.

 

"Merlin Harry, why did you stop?" Severus' voice held a hint of a whine as his lust glazed eyes focused on Harry's still dressed form.

 

"Well, Severus, I can continue to do this," Harry licked a drop of pre-cum from the head of his cock, for emphasis, "or we could do something else." Harry watched as Severus' foggy mind processed the information.

 

Suddenly, Severus pulled him forward and rolled him on his back so he could look Harry right in the eye. As he stared deeply into Harry's eyes, his hands were busy undoing the buttons of his pajama shirt and then the drawstring of the bottoms. When his hand ran up Harry's bare chest to fondle a nipple, Harry moaned and arched into the touch. Having seemingly made up his mind Severus leaned over to kiss him once more.

 

"Are you sure this is what you want, Harry?" Severus asked when he ended the kiss. 

 

"I'm sure," Harry replied it a steady voice.

 

"This may hurt and if you want to stop just say so." Severus began removing the younger man's clothing when Harry nodded in compliance. 

 

Severus explored Harry's body with hands and mouth. Harry was soon lost to the sensations the older man gave him. Every touch of Severus' hands left Harry longing for more. Harry lost track of everything as Severus sent his nerves tingling and before he knew it, Severus had rolled him over onto his stomach. Harry tensed in apprehension, despite the fact he truly wanted this to happen. 

 

"Frightened or nervous?" Severus whispered into his ear when he noticed Harry's stiffness.

 

"A little of both," Harry admitted just as quietly.

 

"Just remember if you wish to stop, say so. Now don't move. I'll be right back." 

 

Harry felt Severus leave the bed and he turned his head to see where the older man went. It wasn't far, just to the dresser across the room. Harry watched as Severus opened a draw and began rifling through it. He could hear the sounds of glass clinking together as Severus searched for something. After a few moments Severus closed the draw and turned back to the bed carrying a jar in one Harry admired the grace of Severus' movements as the lean man strolled back to the bed. Harry watched as Severus got back on the bed and moved to straddle his thighs. Harry could fell Severus' full and heavy prick resting on his cheeks as the man poured some of the jars contents along his spine. Harry shivered at the sensation and when Severus began to massage his back all Harry could do was moan. By the time Severus was done massaging Harry, he was nothing more than a file of wet noodles.

 

Once Severus had Harry relaxed enough, Harry could feel the man shift down and between his legs. Harry felt like a doll as Severus positioned his body the way he wanted. Severus set Harry in such a way that he had easy access to his puckered opening. Harry heard Severus mutter a cleansing spell, which make Harry squirm at the odd feeling. Harry jumped slightly when Severus gently began to prepare him. Severus' silky voice began whispering in his ear to distract him from the discomfort. As Severus worked another finger into him, the older man sought and stroked his fingers over Harry's prostate nearly sending him through the roof with the sensation. By the time Severus was done with his administrations, Harry felt like the man had his entire hand inside. It wasn't hurting, mostly because Severus kept brushing that special spot and whispering all sorts of things in his delightful voice. 

 

"I do hope you're paying attention, Harry. I'm going to quiz you on this in the near future." Harry couldn't say anything, but he moaned at the implications.

 

He allowed Severus to roll him onto his back. Harry still felt like a rag doll and was perfectly content to allow the older wizard to do all the work. Severus shoved a pillow under Harry's hips before sweeping in for a quick kiss. Harry watched as Severus opened the jar again, and coated his straining cock with the oil. Slowly Severus began to push into him, his short shallow thrusts stopped each time until Harry was ready for more. After what seemed to be an eternity, Severus was completely buried in Harry's tightness and waiting for Harry's okay to continue. All the while Severus was running his hands all over Harry's torso, pausing to play with his sensitive nipples. Before long Harry was ready for more, he didn't know how Severus knew, but he did and began long slow strokes, angled to hit his sweet spot each and every time. Harry ran his hands up Severus' arms until he reached the older man's shoulders, where he held on for dear life. His legs automatically wrapped around the man's thin waist as Harry began to meet each of Severus' thrusts. 

 

Their pace quickened and Harry dug his nails into the flesh of Severus' shoulders as stars glittered before his eyes each time Severus' cock brushed his gland. Harry could hear himself babble as they moved together, but he couldn't understand what he was saying. He guessed it really didn't matter; Severus seemed to understand since he picked up the pace yet again. Much to soon, in Harry's opinion, his body arched and tensed as he came, without a touch to his turgid length, calling out Severus' name as he did. The feeling was so intense he blacked out and as he came to he saw Severus watching him with a mixture of smugness, awe, and possessiveness flashing through his eyes. When Harry's body calmed he began to move again, racing towards his own fulfillment. 

 

Harry watched as Severus reached his climax and marveled at how peaceful the man looked at this moment. Severus didn't give him much time to observe him before sweeping in for a kiss that was full of hunger, though caged by exhaustion. Harry reached blindly for his wand and spelled them clean as Severus pulled the blankets over them. Harry and Severus barely had time to move closer to each other before sleep waylaid them both.

 

Morning arrived in the dungeons with the gradual lightening of torches instead of sunlight and the two men entwined beneath the covers slowly stirred. Black-eyes opened completely; their owner completely awake at once. The younger man's eyes opened slowly, desperately trying not to, but failing none the less. Harry looked up and smiled when he saw Severus staring at him. Severus smiled back and ran his hand down Harry's back, making him shiver at the touch.

 

"Good morning, Harry," Severus said softly.

 

"Morning, Severus." Harry replied and the leaned forward to kiss his lover. "Happy Christmas."

 

"Happy Christmas, Harry. For the first time in years it truly is a Happy Christmas for me." 

 

**Fin**


End file.
